Bravo asked me to be on their TV show

Look at this message I found in my Facebook “Other messages” inbox today.

“I am a casting producer for Bravo and I Am working on the show “Below Deck” and I am searching for successful people who would be interested in chartering a 160ft luxury yacht for the show, since the show is based on the crew of the yacht and we need guests the guests get the entire trip at almost 50% off, we are looking for a group of – friends, family, co workers 5-8 people.

the charter will be in British Virgin Islands and we have dates available end of Feb. Beginning of March, would you be interested or know anyone that would be? Its tough finding people who enjoy the luxurious life and can afford it and dont mind being on a tv a little. Let me know”

First of all, THAT’S how that show works?? YOU PAY TO GET ON IT?? That…is kind of stupid. It actually explains a lot about reality TV.

But do you realize how ridiculous it is to get invited onto a yacht for a TV show?

When I was a kid, we drove to LA in our van to visit our family. THAT was our vacation. For the rare times we stayed in a hotel, we got a motel or Holiday Inn and 6 of us slept in one room.

The funniest thing is, none of us ever saw the hotel lobby since our dad told us to stay in the car while he went to check in. Then we would go through the side entrance and all stay in the room to save money. Here’s the inevitable phone call to the front desk:

“Hi, could we have some extra pillows?”

“Sure, room 302. Would 2 extra pillows be fine?”

“Uh…how about 4, and a cot?”

“SIR, THIS ROOM IS ONLY FOR TWO PEOP–HELLO?”

It’s interesting how dreams change once you can actually achieve them. When you’re young, how many of us wanted to go to Disneyland? Honestly, my dream was even simpler — to be able to order an appetizer at a restaurant without having to worry if it was too expensive. God, young Ramit had some dim-ass dreams.

What’s after Disneyland? Maybe the next level is to stay at the Disney hotel. Or to get that special car, or to live in that luxury apartment. Isn’t it funny how the more you want — even if you don’t tell anyone else — it starts feeling uncomfortable?

I learned exactly how intensely uncomfortable it is for us to admit what we really want. For example, I spend over $50,000/year on luxury services. If 22-year-old Ramit saw that, he would have called me an idiot, then fainted. But if you know what you want, and you can afford it, I’ve always encouraged you to spend extravagantly.

WHAT I LOVE: The question lets you imagine what you would do if you had the time and money to get essentially anything. What would it be for you? Daily massage? Someone to clean your house? Do these things sound awesome…or feel sorta uncomfortable? Personally, I think they sound fucking awesome. (Notice how many people are uncomfortable with the entire topic of this email, as if it’s bad to buy things you want — as if it makes you a bad person.)

WHAT I DON’T LOVE: After engaging in the fantasy for a minute, people wipe their hands, saying, “Well, that was fun but it’ll never happen! Back to the grind…” without stopping for a second and saying — “Hey wait a sec. What could I do to get that kind of freedom?”

I can’t imagine, at the end of my life, being satisfied with having cut back on lattes. I want to grow. I want to go out with friends, use my time and money to live a Rich Life with my family, and be generous with the resources I have.

I’ve also learned how certain things aren’t that important to me. I gave my car to my parents. Instead of just adding an extra “0” to our balance sheet, I wanted to take the resources of IWT and direct it towards building 12 schools for poor children around the world. We became the largest fundraiser in Pencils of Promise history.

I never would have imagined this when I was young. Can you imagine what a tragedy it would have been if my dream had stayed the same as my 7-year-old self’s? That stupid dream of being able to order appetizers at a restaurant? I wish I could go back in time and shake myself and yell, “THINK BIGGER, YOU IDIOT!!”

Most people think of a dream as something you fantasize about, then go back to the real world. No! What seems crazy now can seem ordinary later — if you put the work in.

And for that reason, 2016 is the year of growth.

Growth in every area — fitness, money, relationships…whatever a Rich Life means to you. We’ll help you at every step of the way.

Now, I’d like to ask you to tell me something:

What was your dream when you were a kid? (Mine was ordering appetizers off a menu.)

What’s your dream now? DREAM BIG. Don’t just say, “$5,000.” Tell me if you want an online business (and what that would mean to you). Tell me if you want to find the man/woman of your dreams, and what you’d do with them. Get specific!)

There Are 420 Comments

1) Having my own fashion line or boutique
2) Doing something I really enjoy, and making enough money that I can afford to pay off my house and car and live very comfortably – travel when I want to, eat out when I want to, etc. Never living paycheck to paycheck again.

brownin

Now I want to change people’s lives mentally physically and emotionally through my company Popculturemedia inspirng & leadIng people into better lives where they are paid what they are worth. Think differently than the world wants us to believe and DREAM BIG! in the next year I’m going to make 6 figures and in next 12 years I’m going to make 1/2 a billion. All because I want to give to people and help them succeed giving them support and the tools they need inspiring there dreams to be big instead of limited. I get crazy watching people change I just LOVE seeing people’s eyes open and they step into their worth. Woo for inspiring change globaly. you will see me blow up a whole community spread over many cultures and countries. popculturemedia by Brownin from Canada to the world!

Cath

Ramy

When I was a kid, really, my only dream was to become a basketball player. That eventually morphed into performance and being on a big stage. And eventually got specific to being a comedian.

My dream now is to just have lots and lots of time on my hands. I want to be able to “waste” time without feeling like it was wasted. I’d like to be able to just sit by myself somewhere and just *think* and let my mind wander to random places. Maybe even write about those random places my mind goes. And then to still have enough time to “spoil” my kids by playing in their pretend kitchen with them!

dENISE

Ramit, my dream as a kid was to marry Michael Jackson and co-star in all of his music videos. That was my only aspiration. I held onto it until the day Michael was killed. (Yep, I said it).
When you and I met for coffee about three years ago I was still looking for my dream guy. We found each other 18 months ago and we’re getting married later this year. (He is not a Michael Jackson impersonator). As we plan our wedding, we are building a life together. For us, that will eventually mean getting paid to do what we love – writing and taking photographs while we travel. We want to stop working to fulfill someone else’s dream and make ours come true. No more hectic commuting or working 9-5 in an office.

When I was a little girl I wanted to be a geologist. I love rocks. I love wearing rocks of all kinds. They’re literally the key to the history of this planet. And they don’t argue with you. My dream now is to pay off $155k in student loan debt so I can sleep easy at night.

ZAch

When I was a kid my dream was to play Major League baseball, win a world series and eventually wind up in the hall of fame. My dream now is to have an online business that generates recurring revenue so my wife and I don’t have to worry about money and whether we can afford that trip to Italy for our anniversary or that nice restaurant we’ve always wanted to try but couldn’t afford.

Sneha

As a child I dreamt of travelling the world. I used to see pictures of Niagara Falls in the viewmaster. and always wanted to visit.
I came to the US in my 20s, got my masters but still have not travelled the world.
My dream now is to be able to have a business that is either location independent or lets me take my free time and not just max 10 days of vacation every year for the last 10 years inspite of working really hard and be able to afford to travel without thinking twice about the time off that I am taking.

1) As a kid, I dreamed of being a doctor- you know, prestige and helping people. I took that dream through college, graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and then realized I wanted more. I wanted a family and a life full of breathtaking experiences, ones that excite me. I started a nutrition coaching business instead!

2) Now, I dream of buying my parents an apartment in Austria, a special place for them full of memories. They deserve the world, and I want to be a place where I can provide that to them.

Hello, Happy New Year.
I actually know the casting agent for that show and she was on it as a guest. I actually wonder how many of the guests are real or they just say they are wealthy.
1. My dream as a kid was to be able to order duck or steak off the menu.
2. I do want an online business that helps people. I would be so proud of myself and feel complete that I can pay my bills for my one yr old daughter and not struggle every month . I work so I can pay for her sitter who sees her more than I. What’s wrong with this?!

nicole

1. I wanted to go to Disneyland and own a horse.
2. I want to make enough money to buy my parents a house. I’d like to make enough money that I don’t have to worry about anyone in my family not having the things they need. Right now I make enough that I’m doing better than most of my family members, but not enough to share much with them, so I just feel guilty. I want to make enough money that I don’t have to think about money.

Justin Mars

What did I dream of as a child?
Too many things to mention without writing a book for sure. The two I remember most vividly were making 100k/year and having a six pack.
So about 15-20 years later what do I have?
Currently a 120k salary and a 2-4 pack that after 4 years at the gym I believe I’ve finally figured out how to turn into a 6-pack. That’s going to happen this year for sure.
What’s next on the list?
150K in a few years. A fully developed muscular body that turns heads. And a new vein of income or a new project that that will challenge me in all the ways I like. Once I’ve reached those, it’s on to the next one.

Tina

Dream as a child/kid – Disneyland and have my own library
Dream now – work from home; become a published author; work/life balance so I can spend time with my family. Make enough money to have a designer decorate my house; have someone clean it every other week; take family vacations 2-3 times year all over the world (create life experiences) which would also include community service projects.

1) My dream when I was a kid was to be a movie director / make movies.
2) My dream for 2016+ is to put in the work to make the podcast my wife and I just started about interesting couples the go-to place for people to see that having a great partner can be one of the biggest multipliers in every area of your life.

phil

Hi my dream when i was younger was what I now call ‘the American dream’ I wanted a family a house a car ect. I have achieved those things throughout the years. I also wanted to be my own boss. I wasn’t sure what in but I knew I wanted to be self sufficient in life. I did become my own boss and I enjoy it. I’m not rich but I’m happy. I have learnt over the years that when you are in control the being rich part isn’t as important, it’s a bonus if you do. My dream now is to be more comfortable when I’m older and work less, play more.

1) My dream as a child was to be a scientist and discover a cure for hair loss, – my dad is bald. Then around 15 was to become a writer. (which I am right now, yes published 🙂 )

2) My dream right now is to live wherever I want and to come back home to visit my family whenever I feel like. To have my online business running and feeling excited about it. To be around guys like you, Tim F., Ryan Holiday and create kick ass material. To explode my career as a writer and blogger to the point where I don’t think about money or if I can go out tonight, or jump on this opportunity. (I feel that I’ve passed too many opportunities by the lack of money)

Keith

1. My dream when I was a little kid was actually… To have a brand new top of the line desktop computer so I could play all of my favorite games. At the time, my grandparents were satisfied with a computer that was mid-grade for the time, and quickly became outdated.
2. My dream now has nothing to do with computers. There are several countries I would like to visit, and my dream today would be to visit any one of them on a whim.

When I have money to do what I want I’m going to learn to fly and buy a single engine plane. Then I’m going to fly myself places… because I want to! I love driving but I think I would really love flying! I’m also going to pay off my parents and siblings debts and build my grandmother a home more suitable to an 85 year old without so many awful stairs. It’s not going to happen by me continuing to work as a pharmacist. I’m working on additional income streams now and will figure this out no matter how little I know and how many different ideas I have to try… It seems ridiculous to nearly everyone. I see it as completely possible and the only sane path. I just gotta bust outta my comfort zone and do it!

I want to create a platform for educators, trainers, employers, entrepreneurs, working professionals and students to exchange knowledge, information, ideas and experiences. I want to make to enhance learning through technology and research.

Sneha

I also wanted to say that I am very happy to know that you were the largest fundraiser for Pencils of Promise. I finished reading that book a few months ago and it was truly inspiring. I wish I could do something like that or a small share in the next 10 years. I always have thought about doing something for women in sports.

This year I want to break through all of those false ideas of what I can and what I can’t do. I want to feel, believ and know that nothing is impossible. In that I also want to create action steps toward creating the dream I desire. I want to make my online coaching business into something that allows me to live my life with the joy, excitement and amazing lifestyle I have always wanted to create. I want to finally fulfill on creating a huge business that more than supports my family and changes the lives of so many.

1- My dream when I was a kid was to have an underground arcade, pool, and theater beneath my totally average looking house. You would have to know about the secret entrance to get down there.

2- My dream now is to make enough money through passive income that I can live a luxurious life with my family (and by luxurious I mean never have to settle for a cheap bottle of wine again). I would not have to worry about practicing psychology as a means to put food on the table, which is a trap that many private practitioners fall into. Instead, the passive income would provide me the freedom to practice therapy etc. as a passion and I could actually help more by doing it from a genuine place and not out of necessity.

Leon

like you my dream when I was a kid was to be able to order anything off the menu and not have to worry if it was possible or pick from a saver menu etc, tbh I don’t remember going to resteraunts all that much. So I guess I would say my dreams when I was younger was the same.

But now, I dream big just like you like. I want to develop, I want to build someone’s dream house and another and another. I want to have the privilege of not being held back in life and be able to improve other people’s life too, family, friends, charities. To stop worrying about the next paycheck and worrying about the next project, my project, that I created and achieved doing it myself, for myself, not working on someone else’s project.

I guess our lives are our own projects in a way.

Jill

Leon

When I was 6, I wanted to be and ambulance driver. Not an EMT, just the driver–because I wanted to help people and I liked driving [my electric Bigfoot truck with plastic wheels].
Now my dream is to have an online business/presence that generates $50,000 a month, mainly through passive channels. I dream of giving away what I used to make per month. I dream of waking up to the sun (or lunch) instead of an alarm clock and doing whatever the heck I and my bride and kids want to do, wherever that may be.

Victor

Growing up I wanted to sail the world oceans. I learned to sail, but have not sailed any oceans… yet!
I dream of an online business that can be managed anywhere in the world and earns my family $10,000 a month.

My dream as a child was to be an astronaut and to go to Oxford or Cambridge…until a friend of my Mum’s thankfully told me that I could study art at university…so that became my dream. Which I did! Even tho it took me about 15 attempts to be accepted.
My dream now is to work part-time for a level of income that means my husband can take five years off, then take time to think about what work he’d actually like to do, also part-time

Alessandro

When I was a kid, I dreamed of becoming a biker. someone like Lance Armstrong. I didn’t become a biker and I’m glad I didn’t.
My actual dream is living 6 months a year in my home village and the other six months anywhere in the world. Changing every year and learning new languages! That’s my biggest dream…

Abi

I just want to buy a cabin in front of a lake somewhere remote and spend a month there. Away from demands, away from a million NYers, crowded subways, crowded sidewalks, and sad desk lunches. Time away to think and indulge in nature and just enjoy being alone.

abhishek

My dream today is do the work that makes an impact – which will help alleviate people out of poverty. I don’t want money to be a concern. A Rich Life for me is to do the things I want without worrying about money.

Arijoy Mitra

As a child…hmm that’s touch to point out now. There were soo many things i wanted depending on the age. Let’s say it was between becoming a paleontologist and becoming rich.

Now, what I want is to get my freelance content writing business firmly on its feet. And I want to make a comfortable amount of money each month. It would mean the world to mean right now. I’ve left the regular job and this is what i’m doing full time now. Sure there are a lo of challenges now but i’m trying to stay positive.

And I’d also want to find the “woman of my dreams”. What I’d do with her? Hmm ok…:) I’m thinking of a romantic day somewhere out of town where its just us. It’d help to understand each other better and bond well.

As a kid my dream was to go on vacation with my family. We never went anywhere because we were too poor! My dream now is to have an online health coaching business, to never have to worry about money AND to find the man of my dreams. With my business I want the ability to help thousands of women figure out the underlying cause of their health challenges and use a holistic approach to get well. Having my own successful business means the freedom and flexibility to create my own schedule and to work from anywhere in the world. With $0 debt and money in the bank I’d have the ability to buy quality clothes, to have my own apartment, to travel as much as I like without penny pinching as I’ve done in the past to make it happen. and to be able to help my mother out with her living expenses and then some. And with a significant other I’d have a companion to enjoy life with- to go traveling with, to enjoy the city with, to go see art with, to talk about hopes, dreams, and to make plans with.

Olivia

My dream as a kid was to live in Maine, (why a desert NM girl would want to live in cold, snowy, below zero weather…??), and for the past 15 years I have.
Today, my dream is to build a house and remain debt free. I own my land and “tin can” home now (translation: single wide trailer), which helped me feel less nervous about quit my engineering job a year ago to pursue a degree in horticulture. My part time job mapping gardens pays for utilities without having to dip into my savings too much. How is this going to help with my dream? Not completely sure, but an engineering degree + fascination with plants is a job I’ll truly enjoy. With that brings money to help pay for the house. So I guess that’s how.

Alberta

When I was younger my dream was to run away from home. I would fantasize about hitch hiking across the US, probably working in one of those diners you see on TV so I could get access to the food. Now, I dream about owning a software company. I am a software developer and I want to build something that nearly everyone in the world will use–like gmail. It will be me, Google, Twitter, and Instagram, the big four, running the internet.

Miranda hall

When I was young my dream was to own a red mustang. Now I have so many dreams which feels a little overwhelming at times. I am a social workers and I want to open a private practice to work with children through natural methods. So children could come off medications that are harmful. I also have a love for fitness. So I dream to be able to open a gym that has free memberships. I would also like to become an online coach for both motivation and fitness! I also hope to start a motivational fitness clothing line !

I want to create a travel network that provides college credit online. Its a “Location independent study abroad” program.

Many young college age kids want to travel the world- but don’t want to give up a semester or more of school.

I want to offer them the chance to get out and see the world- without worrying about missing their education.

Students take 12-15 credits of online courses while being coached on travel. We help them get out the door to explore new places, find cheap living, and meet other traveling students.

I want them to backpack SouthEast Asia, or volunteer at shelters in Nepal, or snorkel the Great Barrier Reef. They could do their own anthropological projects, or design shelters, or blog about their travel.

We can’t fix the problems of the world without first experiencing them. Can you imagine what great things kids could do without restrictions?

For many people, traveling abroad for a semester will be less expensive than traditional college.

I am currently a 1st year at my university- but I want to make this dream a reality.

Hello I’m Marie I’m a writer and a VA here in Philippines. Me and my husband work at home but if ever you need a free guide or a place to crash while you visit PH we can help you out. Our apartment is tiny but if you want to see the world then you can try couch surfing… Hope college life pans out for you. Take care!

Navi

I want to start a online coaching business – I’ve worked with 2 of your students and I’ve been inspired and awestruck by their work, and I want to do the same with men who have been in the path I’ve been on. I also want to be in an relationship with an amazing woman and go on some adventures, have incredible intimacy and someone who would be for a lack of a better term, a cheerleader for my more athletic pursuits(and I would do the same for her). I also want to become a stronger, better cyclist for cyclocross racing and I want to ride a hand-built Vanilla or Rock Lobster steel cyclocross bike, there’s something about artisan-made bikes that the big bike brands don’t have.

And a new Lexus LS460 would be nice too, something to take my parents around in and for my friends so we don’t need to take Uber. And something for date night as well.

I want to develop enough Ministry Partnership (fundraising) to be able to reimburse ALL of my ministry expenses and take a full, fair salary, which I have not adjusted (increased) since returning to the US 5 years ago after my family and I spent 5 years helping to start a church in Aix-en-Provence, France.

Himanshu

My dream was to grow so rich that if I have to go out n play or meet friends then I should nt be preoccupied thinking if I m “wasting” time n instead I should have done xyz to earn n add some more into savings. Me n my family used to save a lot. As I won’t have money to buy ice lollies since we could nt afford the luxuries of the world, mummy would say tell ur friends if they offer u a treat that u get a bad throat coz of them. The real reason was we never had the capacity to treat my friends at school. My dream was to celebrate my birthday. My dream was to eat a chocolate but always settled fr a small toffee. My dream was to attend my university farewell which I could nt coz I did nt have a full suit n that was the dress code.
The dreams kept changing but essentially were the same. Race of time’s greed n my capability to buy. Haha – what a question u asked ramit..really choked I feel now

Ksenia

I don’t really remember what I dreamt of as a child. Probably of eating all I want and not put on weight (it’s still a dream of mine).
Now I want to create a business / system that would not need my participation to keep working and making money, and would generate enough money for me to live a rich life (for me that’s traveling as much as I want to, which is 6-8 months a year + doing anything I want not for money, but just because I want to.

Kaila

My dream as a kiddo was to fly. . . or to be an ant and battle spiders. It’s weird, I know. I have an active imagination and being a career like a superstar singer or princess was way too mainstream for me. For a while, I believed my calling in life was to fly to Iraq and convince Saddam Hussein to be nicer to his people. I told this to my friend and she told me I was crazy.

Now, my dream is to tell stories about my home town, and to help people fall in love with it as I have. I moved back from Seattle two years ago and thought I would hate it. When I left at 18, I swore I would never move back. Off the video vignette site, I want to start an online coop where people who visit can buy things from our local roastery and chocolatier and artisans. We’re a weird little artist town in the middle of the Flint Hills, and there’s a ton to see and do around here.

I also want to discover Kansas. I’ve spent my life traveling the world and there are so many weird things here that I haven’t seen and appreciated. I want to study life in the super small ghost towns on the plain and understand why people stay and the challenges they face and how they stay alive.

I’ve lived in Seattle, LA, Phoenix, and Kansas City and I can’t fathom living in a town of a few hundred or thousand. But people do. It’s fascinating.

When I was kid, I dreamed of having a horse and learning to ride it (I actually bought books about how to take care of your horse and pored through them, as though some unknown force was going to deposit one in my back garden the next day) . I also dreamed of going to work in the Maldives as a receptionist, because I went there once with my family at the age of 8, promptly fell in love with a Maldivian receptionist who let me play with the phones, and decided it was my life’s calling.

My dream now is to turn over my first million by the time I’m 25 (21 now so time is ticking!), own an online business that is generating side-income, publish a book (I’ve already started gathering submissions for a book of Pep Talks. Really looking forward to seeing it come together!), and found a charity to encourage and support teenagers in their ambitions and help them believe in themselves. I also want to have a stationery line, because I’m a super geek and love buying notebooks and sparkly pencils for fun, and am determined to believe I’m not the only one!

luke

I WANT TO BE ABLE TO LIVE IN A LUXURY VILLA IN EUROPE DURING SUMMER MONTHS AND THEN LIVE IN AUSTRALIA DURING THEIR SUMMER MONTHS, THEN EXPLORE AND TRAVEL (OR LIVE IN A LUXURY VILLA ON AN ISLAND) IN THE INBETWEEN MONTHS

Heather

As a little girl, I dreamt of being a dalmatian breeder. I was obsessed with the Disney movie, 101 Dalmatians, and had visions of spending my life playing with puppies.

My dream now is be a competitor at Crufts in Agility, or to be invited to represent the USA at the World Agility Championship.

Currently, I work to have money to train my dogs, but I don’t have enough time to practice to be the best that I can be. But dog training, and trialing, and traveling, gets very expensive, so I need my job to have the money to participate in dog sports. I’ve successfully grown my income to a 6 figure salary, but still feel so behind with retirement, student loans, the house we bought last year. And my job is stressful! So, I’m tired by the time I get home, so the practice and fun that I have training my dog isn’t always the most successful, because I am so drained.

We have a lot of fun together and I learn so much, but I know that I can be so much better, and I’d love to be able to continue learning and be competitive regionally, nationally, and (eventually) internationally. I love working with dogs, understanding HOW they learn, and what we can do as handlers to help them understand us better. I love the teamwork between dogs and handlers. I love solving the handling puzzles with different courses. I love seeing how underwater treadmills and other canine rehab can help dogs live active, healthy lifestyles and be better for competition.

I’ve been thinking quite a bit recently about what my ideal life would look like. My girlfriend and I have had long conversations about what we want to accomplish this year. By the end of year our goal(goals are just dreams with a timeline) is to have $100,000 saved, a business plan written, and to open a vape shop in Montana. It’s ambitious, but not unattainable.

Dani

katie

When I was a kid, I wanted to know everything. I didn’t care what kind of job I had, but I wanted to be a super badass expert at whatever it was that I did.

Today my goal is way more specific, and also more complex.
– I want to be financially independent – meaning I want to work for myself and consult on leadership development for small to huge businesses. I want to work because I want to, not because I have to.
– I want to develop a second stream of income via ZTL focused around stuff that will help people but that I’m also fascinated by. I want to have the luxury of spending my work time aggressively learning so that I can create amazing content that will also financially support me.

Thanks to ZTL for giving me the steps and tools to make my dream possible. I’m not to my dream yet, but I know what steps to take next, and I’m so happy to be working towards something that seemed impossible just a year ago. Not to mention a year ago I wasn’t able to put into words or thoughts what my dream was.

As a child I’ve read a lot, and I imagine myself traveling to every country in the World, especially Japan, and eat amazing food! I grow up in Soviet Russia, nobody travel abroad that time! And that was big if you hear from someone they did travel to Hungary, or Bulgaria! So – now I wish I can make good income and be able to travel when I want and where I want! Thats would be amazing! And One Big wish I have to write a book about my life and my traveling! Yeas! And would love to help to animals around the world – especially dogs shelters!

Nate

My dream is to own an online business so that I have the freedom and money to take my family on amazing vacations. Some vacations we would love to take are: an Amazon River cruise, visit at least 10 famous museums all over the world in a single trip, visit the location that was used for the Ewok village in Return Of The Jedi (yes it is a real place).

My dream as a kid was to go to university, get a good job, and get married. I was not particularly specific. I’ve achieved all of those things and more.

My dream now is to build my online business to the point where I can hire a team, make money in my sleep and on vacation, be location independent (work from ANYWHERE in the world), and afford all the gadgets and things my husband wants (he’s a dreamer). I want to coach clients and build an online course academy and provide mentorship and mastermind-ing. I also want the ability to stay home with my (future) kids when I feel like it and attend all their events as I choose to. It’s about freedom and flexibility. I currently work a full-time job and hustle my online business on the side when I can. I’d like to transition to FT online biz management in 2016 so I can manage my own schedule and choose my own pay.

My dreams as amid was to have my own business. Currently I’m 28 years old and I have my own business but have difficulties becoming financially stable. I have no loans or grants I been using my saving and all my investments.. Now I’m struggling! My dreams at this point is to rapidly grow in a financial stand point, develop my website and trademark my company name.. Some days I feel like giving up, but thank Hod for the good people that surround me with encouragement and hope!

Chris

When I was a kid I really wanted to open a store that sold refurbished Nintendo magazines because I thought there was a huge market for that haha…I also wanted to own a restaurant.

When I first read the question I found myself think at the 10ft level for sure…but after giving it some thought and thinking a bit bigger, I’d like to start some type of organization that assists single parents with services they may need. That would include career counseling, scholarships for their kids, tutoring, childcare and financial assistance.

Colin jaipaulsingh

I recently took a shot at moving back to my country(Trinidad) and starting a couple businesses… Right now my dream is to be able to fill my electronics store to the brim with things that people actually want… And I also just recieved a used car dealer license which gives me the permission to bring cars from japan and resell…. After many hurdles, I have 3 cars on the docks waiting for me, and i’m just thinking of where to get money to clear them with customs lol… But I’ve always pulled off whatever I’m doing.. So my wish is to be able to bring 50 cars at a time, and just being financially set:)

1. When I was a child, with our family we would go to town festivals that would happen couple of times a year. Of course there were tons of foods and silly, flashy crap that makes kids go “MOOOM!! I WANT THIS!!!” – I was one of those kids. But we never really got any of those things because money was tight and we would bring our own food from home. I remember dreaming how I will never bring food and buy everything when I grow up and go to these festivals.

Funnily, when I did grow up and went back to my home town to meet with friends during one of those festivals I was appalled because, who in their right mind would even want to put that crap into their mouths, not-to-say prefer it over home-cooked snacks haha So we stuck with getting beer – it wasn’t that great in quality, but having it with childhood friends was definitely a moment worth remembering 🙂

2. Creating epic, one of the kind content for my business. I write on men’s style for dating, it’s a niche that I enjoy tremendously, and one of the most popular/helpful type of content I currently prepare are called “Style Inspirations”, where I create collages made from clothing photos to create an outfit for specific situations/image/body types and I create sort of personas for all these looks, accompanied with a short romanticized story.

My dream right now is to take these outfits, these stories and create short (~3-5 min.) movies, to show how they would look in life-like situations and what they would communicate. Right now, I still don’t have the resources to create this type of content as I’d need not only production/video crew but also get the clothes themselves suited for our “lead actor”, that and find actors/venues. And of course afterwards make a behind-the-scenes video explaining all the little details and reasoning behind clothing choices.

Ideally, I would travel to make those videos with our most loyal readers as lead actors!

Scott

Great post Ramit!
1. As a child, like you, I always wanted to order an appetizer without feeling guilty AND order something other than water to drink as a restaurant.
2. Now, I want to purchase a waterfront home on Cape Cod with my beautiful (future) wife so we can host friends, family and then one day raise our own family there in the summertime without having to worry about taking vacation time off or needing to be in a downtown office burning the midnight oil!

Jordan S

Hi Ramit, you’ve always got some good stuff. This was a fun article. As for me, my dream as a kid was to drive all the fastest cars in the world. I grew up a gearhead, never learning how to fix cars or anything but I was always just fascinated by cars. I still am but nowadays my dream is a little different. I’d still love to drive all the fastest cars around, but my dream is to honestly live a life of… leisure. I really want to do anything I want whenever I want, but only if it doesn’t hurt anyone else. If I could wake up and ask myself, “hmm, what to do today…,” because of all the time and money I had, I’d be epically happy. It sounds somewhat haughty, sure. But this is my dream, and I’m determined to achieve it. And besides, in this position I’d be able to help many people out, and I could even live out my childhood dreams – to drive all the fastest cars in the world.

As a child, my family had a healthy income which allowed for travel, and eating out and never worrying about bills. I didn’t know that wasn’t the norm for most people! (#shelteredkid) Now married, my husband works in healthcare, and I’m growing my business. We constantly deal with the budget, and our life feels small because of it. I am TIRED of worrying about money. I want my life to have more WHITESPACE-for creativity, for travel, for amazing meals, for conversations, for showing my daughter to the world-without the fear of dollars in the bank.

In my work, I want to teach women how to use their decorate their homes with meaning, to use their home as a canvas and live a creative life. I know that women crave this, and I am working to build a way to monetize this message/skill that I TRULY believe will help women feel more empowered and at ease in their space.

as a child, I wanted to live in Los Angeles.
Now my dream is to become a successful online entrepreneur, Author, Artist and Screenwriter, who also motivates others to fulfill their dreams. I am still going to live in Los Angeles, just now I know what neighborhood, Hollywood Hills.

Now, having a business that allows me to not depend on job, being able to travel twice a year for a 2 week period each with my family, build a modern house and traveling to the US and Europe to watch live my favorite sport teams.

I can remember one of my first fantasies as a kid was picturing myself in this beautiful upscale city apartment. I had hundreds of pillows and candles inside and I was, of course, really, really good looking. Pretty sure Raphael from the ninja turtles was my lover as well.
Now I dream of being a famous artist/designer. I want to cater to rich clientele and continue making art that no ones ever conceptualized or seen. I will, of course, be really, really good looking and hopefully find a human lover. More pillows and candles would still be nice.

Emanuel Levy

When I was a child my dream was being an enrertainer because I like making people laugh and smile.

After realizing I do not have the talent for that I gave up on the dream.

My dream now is to create a secondary source of income so I can achieve three goals
A) Allow my wife to live the lifestyle she deserves without worrying about debt
B) Rebuild our Swimming Pool and enclose it so she can open the pediatric occupational therapy practice she wants to use it for therapy sessions
C) Donate money to causes I believe in such as prevention of and a cure for ovarian cancer which took my mother in September.

Jon w.

My dream as a child was pretty simple- I wanted to always have the newest pair of air Jordan shoes. It was the middle school status symbol. My dream now would be able to start a business dealing with football.

Prashant bishwakarma

My dream as a kid was as every little kids are taught at school is to get the best jobs. I wanted to be a doctor.

My dream now, is to build a business Empire. Started my first business in December 2014. Then I have started another business on Decemeber 2015. I have set sky high goals to crush for both my businesses. I am 24 now. I guess everyone knows early stages aren’t that easy! I am putting more than 12 hours work directly and indirectly everyday. I do this for my parents and for a financial freedom. Let’s keep working hard, it pays off.

When I was younger, my dream was to go to Disney World. My family was not poor, but we were large (5 kids, 2 adults). It was beyond my parents’ means for us to make that trip.

Today, at age 58, my dream is to make $100K/year extra in an online business so that I can give more money away. My husband and I have build enough wealth to make the rest of our lives secure (and even comfortable), but I want to give more. I want to be able to say “YES” more often when a charitable organization asks for a donation. I earn this money WITHOUT changing my lifestyle–I like the way I live right now and don’t want to change it very much. I could take a 9-5 job to earn more money, but I don’t want to do that. I want to work on my terms, on my timeline and still be able to enjoy roadtrips with my husband and time with my adult children.

You may find it funny but my dream since childhood has been to be on cover of a magazine. Earlier(when I didn’t know much), I thought any magazine would work.
Now my dream is to fly on my private jet on my way to begin my expedition to climb Mt Everest, & to be on the cover of TIME/ FORBES magazine (for good reasons ofcourse!) . I’ve pictured myself so many times on cover of these magazines that I even know how would I pose for the photo shoot.

When I was a kid, I dreamed of being a dancer and/or an actress in movies.

Now, I dream of building my company into the premier %-based savings service in the nation. I will help tens of thousands of people. It will allow me to send my daughter and my nephew to college, no problem, and it will relieve the financial burden of retirement and health care for the rest of our lives. We will take awesome vacations and I will have several assistants to help manage the daily and routine aspects of my life. We will move to SoCal where I will pursue my film career and manage my business remotely. I will also give back by creating a cartoon based on my dog, and it will make children laugh around the world. I will also adopt one or two more children and many more dogs and donate regularly to causes near and dear to me. Ah, that’s my life!! Awesome.

When i was a kid I wanted to be a JCB driver. The farm behind my parents house had one, and I used to go to the end of the garden and think that it would be cool to drive one of those as a job.

My current dream is to grow my consultancy business and go on some more exotic holidays for longer periods of time with my wife and kids. Probably go further than that and go away on holiday on a whim. I would like to learn how to fly a plane and go up in a fast jet as a passenger. I would want to have more than one home and maybe move around as the seasons change. I guess what I am alluding to is have more freedom to do what I want, when I want to.

When I was in 7th grade, I decided that I was going to be a computer programmer, operator, and technician because I wanted to be totally self-sufficient. I became a professional electrical engineer (PE), project management professional (PE), and tutor instead. Today my goals are to create lifelong learners, end homelessness, and leave a financial legacy for my children, grandchildren, to infinity. #intentional

As a kid, my dream was to be a rockstar. Traveling the world, performing in front of thousands, experiencing new cultures, places and people.
Now, I won’t say that dream has died (I still write and carry a tune pretty decently) but it has expanded a bit. Over the course of my life I nurtured many talents: writing, public speaking, website building/coding, and even a knack for digital media management.
I want to take 2016 to find my happiness by finally making the move where I want to be (the West coast). After six years, the South just hasn’t produced that ample opportunity to make the reaches I would like in making the music I want or the impact and direction I would like in the other potential ventures that I mentioned earlier. The door seems readily available on that side of the country – but only if I am there – so going there is the biggest leap.

I’m creeping on 30 and want to have a full life, so I want to take this year to at least make those necessary steps to get the life I am seeking.

Rebe

When I was 3 I used to pretend I had friends who spoke different languages and I could speak all of them ( i actually did talk to those stones while spending 3 minths in a row at our summerhouse) ..Now I actually speak a lot of languages and have friends from different countries and talk to them really every day .. What i would like now would be to be able to travel to any country at any time without worrying about how much it costs! Btw Ramit I love your story about your family vacation I can totally relate ….

Now I want to build a community of couples and individuals who value relationships and live relationally. These people consciously work toward that goal each day and experience the joy of deep connection.

Sam

As I child, I was very similar to Ramit in that my dreams were on a very small scale – help my parents pay the bills so they didn’t have to worry about them anymore. My parents moved our family to the US when we were young so we could get a great education and not be in a country that was going downhill, and I wanted to repay that debt.

The good news is that I’ve done that – I became a Mechanical Engineer and now manage over 180+ people with a great job and I support my parents. But I’ve also realized I want more. Those dreams were too small. I read your book, and the emails you send really speak to me, but my old thinking comes back to haunt me of “I’m good, I have a good job, why rock the boat?”. It’s time to really change that thinking. I want to start my own online business. I want to be able to completely take care of my parents as they are getting into retirement (without any savings), and also live where I want, travel when/where I want. I wholeheartedly believe I have the ability, intelligence and skill set to be successful in anything I do, so it is just time to do it.

It’s weird that the first time I am saying this is through a comment on a website. But hey, maybe that is what it takes to get my ass in gear.

When I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed to watch TV. I still can’t tell if it was due to religious or cultural reasons, but I craved watching TV like the rest of my peers. All I wanted to do was sit down and watch Saturday morning cartoons like everyone else.

Fast forward to now, my dream is to quit my day job and work on more creative and engaging projects (photography, design, copywriting) My other half and I want to move back to the Midwest (because you can’t grow anything in the desert) buy a nice antique Victorian house on an acreage, spend ridiculous amounts of money creating a gigantic garden with parterres and hedges and orchards and water features, then create an endowment to take care of the garden long after we are gone.

ANDREA

A few days ago, I wrote myself a cheque for $500,000 dated the day after my 35th birthday. I have a little over 2 years to achieve my dream of being able to cash that cheque. Im talking cash in the bank – not liquidating all of my assets. I want $500,000 in the bank that I would take out, if my heart desired. I will get there. How? Well, Im starting an online business. I have just started putting the website together (a whole new experience for me). What I have focused on is making one small step every day. Just one. If I do more.. great! But, at least one a day 🙂 My step today? I went to Lecture 1 of an app making course. All new. All exciting. Im pumped to see how far I can get in 2016. The fire is under my ass. Thanks for the spark, Ramit!

Vane

You know that feeling you get when you’re hanging out with your best buddies and having the time of your life?

Isn’t it funny how you could be doing the shittiest of jobs but just having your buddies around makes the work relatively irrelevant?

As a kid, my dream was to have that same feeling with my family.

We would go out to a movie or out to eat and my younger siblings and I would love it, but I could always see in my parents’ faces that there was some stress about spending money. They were always more focused on the pain of “the work” that they couldn’t fully enjoy our time together as a family. If, for one family experience, we didn’t have to worry about spending money and could just have fun my dreams would come true.

I’m 22 now and the oldest of six children. To own and operate my own successful business would mean I could provide an environment for my family that would support enjoying each others’ company.

Blair

My dream as a kid was to travel the world as a photographer for National Geographic. This mainly came from looking at their magazines and imagining the freedom to go anywhere, to observe nature and to see so many different places in the world. I lived with the ocean and mountains in my backyard so outdoors was my playground.
Now my dream is to start several online business that help and motivate people to be all they can be, to live their dreams (sports, fitness and everyday life). I want the freedom to take my family on trips, to not worry about money or getting back to a job, to bring my kids to school every day, to not have my wife work so much (she only had 2 days off for Christmas).

Like Adam my childhood dream was to be an astronaut. That dream has manifested into traveling the planet earth for the time being. My goal is to have a successful online store/stores that afford me a lifestyle of a jet setter.

When I was a child I used to dream of living in a house. Not an apartment – a house, with a washer and dryer so I didn’t have to go to the laundry mat.

No I dream of running my naturopathic medicine clinic online, and retiring my husband from his high six figure job that he does not love, so we can travel and work, and spend more time with family, more time doing humanitarian projects, and never worry about money.

Euan

I want to build a SaaS business for the Solar Energy to become financially independent. Once that’s done I want to scale it out so that is making lots of money so I can look at making renewable energy and sustainable farming cheap and efficient; so that not only is it better for the environment, it will make economic sense

Mimi

I’m a kid. (Hola to the adults!) My dream is to leave a mark on the world and actually live a life doing crazy things that make me love being alive without thinking about how much it costs, or who’s payin for it or how I’m going to pay for it! 😀

Now my GOALs which are more specific haha! THIS IS THE YEAR OF CHANGE AFTER ALL! I want to start a business that can help me and others around me, a business that can help me financially too! 😀 Adding that this year I’m going to do some crazy academic goals like topping the school. Blergh, they don’t sound as cool as my kiddish dreams.

I wanted to be a teacher when I was little, that and having a traditional 2 parent family were my dreams. Now, I want to own a food truck or small bodega of sorts. Just specializing in meatball and chicken sandwiches. Philly’s boobs and balls. Haha, this is the first time I ever wrote that down! Anyway I have an MML business now, I know it is working for others and when I started I was all in, motivated. It is in line with my goals of helping others to live a healthier lifestyle, but that spark has quickly dwindled in the last month. So now I’m back at a significant crossroads.

I wanted to be able to take a road trip with my parents and not worry about the money they were spending. Oddly (or not, really), that’s still a dream of mine, but now it’s ‘I want to travel the world with my family every year, two to three times a year – and not worry about money.’ And it’s going to happen, oh yes it is. >:D

Echo

I always wanted to serve humanity in some form or the other, and make some positive difference to this world. Originally, my ‘dream’ was to become a doctor (a dream promoted by my father), but that rigorous lifestyle wasn’t for me, so in high school I decided to go into Teaching. Due to the horrible job market for teaching when I was in university I also opted out of that ‘dream’ and now I am doing a Masters in Instructional Design.

My future dreams:
-Pay off my student loans after I find a job
-Buy my dad a really nice suit and my mom a nice winter coat and designer bag or something
-After reading a NY Times article I want to copy that person and help pay off my parents mortgage as a secret gift to them
-Use my Instructional Design skills to research and develop a cost-effective program for underprivileged children and women around the world; ‘education is power’ right?
-Get married to someone who shares a similar vision for the future and have children
-Become a life-long learner
-Volunteer my time for my community

I want to build a business platform for myself to the point where I can pay off mine and my family’s debts without a second thought. I want to build a platform to where I am answering to no one but myself, and no longer working the typical 8-5. I want to build a platform that allows me to travel, meet and connect with like-minded people, and be generous with my resources. I started the building blocks to operate my own company a couple months ago, and we are signing our first client this month!!

JP

As an Indian girl born in a traditional household, my only dream was to have an independent life from my family. My own condo, a fun life in the city and a great career to foot the bill.

I am still working on all that but I am proud to say I have my independence now (minus the lavish lifestyle). I would love to do my PhD and work in international development one day. If i was financially independent I feel like I could start on those things tomorrow. I tell myself if I could set up a business where I have passive income generating, I could go do the academic thing.

Rachael

My dream as a kid was to take vacations – we were also a large family so things like Disneyworld, beach trips, etc didn’t really happen.

My dream now is to build a tiny house village! My husband and I recently built one for ourselves and love the practical application of minimalism and affordability (allowing us to travel!). I would love to build tiny houses with a shared communal area for residents for social interactions and some shared tasks, like laundry, hosting dinners, movie nights, etc!)

Jeremy

My dream when I was young was to be a ‘pizza delivery guy’ because it combined the dreams of driving my own car, making money at a real job, and of course eating pizza whenever I pleased.

My dream is currently to achieve mastery level coaching skills geared towards serving entrepreneurs and business leaders, enabling me to make $250,000.00 a year while working remotely and travelling. Beyond this level my dream is to develop retreats and information products to serve people in ways which don’t require directly trading time for money to bring in revenue.

Margarita

As a child I wanted to travel the world. I would spend a lot of time looking through my atlas and planning my various adventures around the globe.
I still want to travel, however, my goal today is travel the world as a researcher. While I am interested in conducting research in my field (health care administration and policy) my dream is to seek out people who practice traditional medicine in their region and learn as much about this as I can. My plans to accomplish this are in two parts: one is to seek out temporary research positions in my field of study and take the opportunity of living in a different location for 6mo-1yr to find opportunities for my independent research, the second is to create a passive income by developing health care industry specific tutorials.

Norman

I wanted yo be an important person, with a luxury car and a beautiful wife, and not have any Financial problems
Today i am a lawyer with 2 master degrees working as a freelance (since 5 months, so its hard), i have a beautiful wife, but i do not have my luxury car, being important its not an issue now, and i still care about money
Now i would like to have a very good income, to be more productive and find a way to make more bussines in order to be independent and stay calm at 100% and help friends, family, and people that i care…

sasha

Thanks for this e-mail. It helped me realize that I feel comfortable now with these topics and dreams! When I was a kid my mom lived across the ocean from me and I wanted to live with her. That dream came true. That was 20 years ago and now I have a dream to run a company that will fund startups, but only those that will impact the world/humanity in a positive way, I really would like to meet with them personally, hear their story and help them at least financially. Grant dreams aside, I still wish to not look at prices on tags and menus, afford travelling, and pay for a cleaning lady to come and clean my parents apartment so my mom can spend time doing art and things that she loves.

I have been dragging my company along, like a ball and chain, for the last 10 years. I have great training products, a wonderful team, and … this is the year I dream of getting off the “survival” wago, to a different destingation of: huge profits, happy clients, big buzz, and lots of fun. In fact, it’s not a dream: it’s my super serious goal.

Cat Donnelly

The only thing that I can remember clearly wanting as a kid was to travel the world. I knew that other people did it and I wasn’t sure how that got accomplished. I think I had a vague idea that my parents’ incomes left a little to be desired to see the world. From New York, we sometimes got to Pennsylvania for a weekend or even a week!

As an adult, I did travel a little bit and went to Ireland for 6 weeks a few years ago. My dream now is to sell off all of my possessions and move to Portugal. I figure from Portugal I can travel all over Europe on a dime compared to coming from the U.S. I’d love to pick a different European country, or perhaps Australia or New Zealand, to experience each year. I want to see BEACHES and lots of them. This is how I want to retire. When I retire, I want to have time to write and create and relax. These are things in short commodity when I’m working all the time.

Eliah

As a child, I wanted to become a writer/author. Also thought I might like a horse. Nowadays, I believe I’ve come full circle and still desire to write. This time, with being generous in mind. I am all prepped to launch a website and blog by end of this month to create extra income and add value to my clients’ lives. I look forward to using it to help effective non-profit outreaches with contributions and campaigns as you have done! And I still plan on getting that horse. Thanks, Ramit, for the inspiration.

I dream of helping others, and when I watched your videos, I thought about the many people that I would be able to help. I think what I am lacking in my strategy is a proven system that I can implement.

I am a natural connector, and my “day job” brings me into contact with new faces on a daily basis. I know that the only way to fulfill my life is by being able to help others. Helping other solve problems is what has allowed me to build my resume.

What I am looking for, is the template that will help me enable others the key to enriching their lives and that of their family or loved ones.

If that fits within the ethos of your business model, then I, sir, would love to participate. Unfortunately the only thing holding me out of participation is discretionary income (or money I don’t need for bills).

Ramit, your vidoes haveABSOLUTELY INSPIRED ME.

The traits that I feel make me an ideal candidate are: I work hard, I learn Fast, and I deliver results.

Cheers,
John

Susan

1. As a kid I wanted to own a sports car and travel (and be a ballerina).
2. Now, I want to develop real estate for 2 Tiny Home Communities. I want to build the first community in Dallas, Texas where I currently live in order to house Military Veterans. I want the community to have a walking trail. Community Center, and Community Garden. I also want the residents to have the opportunity to provide voluntary service to others.
I want the second community to be in Jamaica, where I plan to live, and I have two target groups in mind that I haven’t decided on yet.
I would really love to have an online business so that I can produce income while living or traveling around the world.

1. My Childhood dream was to own arcade machines and play video games for a living. Which I actually started doing towards the end of my high school year. But imagining myself now if that came true as a 32 year old professional gamer makes me kind of glad I didn’t stick with it.

2. My big dream now is monetizing my online business to hit 6+ figures this year. This is tied to so many of my other goals (traveling, new apt, fitness coach, saving for wedding, helping parents). Cutting back always felt like rearranging a set number of legos, trying to build one big castle. After a certain point, you run out of pieces to work with. 2016 for me is the year of getting a hell lot more lego pieces to play with.

Bevin

I want to be able to pay off the house that we just built in less than 10 years, as well as pay for an all inclusive vacation for my and my husband’s families. Plus be able to afford the best childcare possible when we have kids.

I recently discovered you and am in the middle of your productivity course. Thanks for that! I am learning so much. I do have a hard time getting specific about my goals. Also, sometimes I shoot so high (or actually think high, and never finish) it gets disappointing.

Ever since I was little I wanted to be rich. Not for selfish reasons, but I always figured if I had a ton of money I could do anything I ever wanted. Travel and help people. Now it’s more real than ever, because I want to help people who have similar struggles as myself.

I have a chronic autoimmune disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis, which causes my joints to be swollen & fuse together. I had my knees replaced last year at 29, and still going to therapy everyday because of a complication with my left knee. With everything I’ve been through, I still LOVE my life and I’m super positive I can overcome my challenges. With that being said, I know not many people feel this way with their disease. I have been in (and signed out of) a ton of support groups because almost all are a breeding ground for negativity. I just recently launched blissandhealth.com. I want to grow this blog by sharing my story as a positive example, but also, for people to be amBLISSadors for health. Meaning, they share their tips and tricks on how to cope with their disease to be an example for others too. In hopes to monetize so I can support myself, and then with the profits raise awareness about invisible illness, give financial resources to other people who need it because often times we aren’t “sick enough” to qualify, and eventually launch a “bliss box” business where people can purchase a “pick me up” box for someone who’s suffering, and … the list goes on!

Sorry for my long winded response! Felt good to get it out on paper as I start this journey. Thanks for being a great mentor.

My dreams as a kid were oriented around my profession. For a time, I wanted to be a marine biologist, because I loved swimming and science and wanted a career that allowed me both.

These days, my dream is to be able to pay off my families’ homes, then buy a large farm/ranch on which to raise bison, alpacas, and bees, among other potential animals. My husband and I want to use it to educate kids and adults on how a farm works, as well as artisan skills, such as spinning yarn and making soap. The goal is to provide community outreach and some jobs, as well.

First off I wouldn’t be where I am without you Ramit, thanks for the inspiration in your emails and Success Triggers.

I still have a ways to go, but my dream today is the same as it was when I was five: to spend all day with dogs, preferably a 101-Dalmations-esqe swarm of them.

I am a copywriter and blogger writing for dog related businesses, and I spend most days with my 2 dogs, while writing about dogs. I’m not sure if I want to become a dog trainer, or if I would rather have a business selling dog products. Writing for dog businesses is helping me discover how I will run my own.

I’m very lucky to have found the guy of my dreams – just who I wanted, he’s sensitive yet thug and thinks I’m the most beautiful woman in the world. While I still don’t order appetizers, when it comes to him I’m already living the dream.

Grace

We had just enough growing up and I accepted life as is. When my family moved here to the U.S. from Hong Kong, my first flight at 9 years old, I recall longing to see more of other parts of the world someday. Unfortunately, that someday has yet come to fruition.

Just late summer of this past year, I began freelancing as a web designer/visual consultant. I really value my face-to-face meetings with my clients. Instead of only servicing local small businesses/organizations, my dream is to grow my business to a point where I could even travel to a different state/country to meet with and service them. I also dream of giving a portion of my profits to women who’s been in abusive relationships providing for them housing and/or job training to get them back on their feet.

Chris NieLsen

Like Adam, I wanted to be an astronaut. I also wanted to go Disneyland whenever I want and pretty much just see the world, like many of us.

When I started college, I began studying aerospace engineering. After a while of doing that I became convinced that the amount of hated work I had to put in that degree just wasn’t worth it. So, I chose a much more fulfilling career for me, I am currently training to be a pilot, airline, UPS, private pilot, I don’t really care as long as I’m getting paid to do what I love. It’s expensive so it’s taking a little while, while I save up enough money to get me to the finish. I think it will be worth it though.

I would also like to have my own business, whether it be Internet or something else. I just don’t know what to do, I feel like that’s the hardest part. Just not knowing what business idea would be best. I have also thought of getting a real estate license, maybe I’ll do that this summer.

I’d really like to be able to concentrate on developing on of my skills and making a sustainable living off of it. My biggest weakness is being able to concentrate on just one thing. I walk into a restaurant and immediately size up their menu layout, floor plan, parking spaces and come up with 10 ideas to optimize their business. I can’t turn my brain off but am trying to develope the skill of being able to focus.

Thanks for all sharing all your knowledge. I live 80 minutes from NYC, would love to pay you back with a video or photo session to help create content.

Carolyn

As a child, I wanted to be a house painter and paint every house on the block hot pink (or some variation in the pink/purple family). Yes, HOT, electric, you-can-see-it-with-your-eyes-closed pink… because at the time, my 5 yr old self thought that was the most beautiful color in the world. I now realize how much of an eyesore that would be, but my creativity and entrepreneurial spirit still abounds.

I’m at a cross road intersection this year… 2016 is the last year of my post-doctoral fellowship and I need to find the next step. Traditionally, this would mean 1 or 2 more post-docs, each 2-3 years long, each requiring a grant from the government for scientific research. I love what I do, but the “system” to get a research job is unnecessarily long and tedious (which is NOT what I want to do). In 2015, I asked myself, “Isn’t there’s a better way to make money at what I do? Can I be self-funded to do research?”, and the idea of starting my own geology/volcanology company took hold. If i were to do it, this year is as opportune as any… and my dream is for my company to let me do 4 things:
A) Travel the world by helping other researchers get their samples from volcanoes across the globe,
B) allow for total daily flexibility in my routine (because things comes up, the occasional migraine happens, and having only 13 vacation days is hardly a “refresh and recharge” when you work 60 hr weeks the rest of the year),
C) Be financially independent enough to buy/deploy field equipment and cover travel expenses without cutting into my take home salary, and
D) I noticed a large public interest in what I do, and I’d enjoy giving them the ability to come learn about volcanoes first-hand, and hands-on.

In short, my rich life would be doing what I love and not having to worry about how to fund my research or minimize my lifestyle when funding is really tight.

Now I want to be an icon in the business world and known as someone who graduated college and took the road less traveled by avoiding the corporate world and starting his own online business(es) and inspires people to have a different outlook on life, rather than succumbing to corporate life, salaries, nice benefits, etc.

denise

I wish you’d make an online video course for teens. That’s my dream now — that my own teens don’t internalize the piss-poor lessons about money that I’ve lived. When I was growing up, talking about money was shameful. My parents made a big deal of never telling us how much money they made, always emphasizing the struggle. They made fun of rich people, hated rich people, even though they ended up doing well and have rich friends today. They seem strangely happy that my brother and I are still struggling as adults. When my own son (their grandchild) was a toddler, I asked if they would contribute to a Roth account for him for his future, and they mocked me. My husband grew up with a similar mentality.

My dream now is that there would be an engaging, affordable online program for teens teaching the concepts and strategies from your IWT book. I tried using the IWT paperback as a workbook with my teens, but honestly, they’re more engaged when either learning online or in real-life situations/simulations (my older teen is using TradeHero to learn about stocks).

There’s not much competition that I know of–and I’ve spent quite a bit of time researching and have a background in education. Dave Ramsey has a well-regarded program for teens, but it’s religious in nature, and we’re not religious. We tried the painfully outdated Switched-on-Schoolhouse financial class, which was also religious — after awhile, I told my teen that “God” would always be a correct answer choice on their quizzes. And my younger teen participated in Ameritowne, where she was docked for not wiping out her pretend savings account on Ameritowne Day (when kids practice running a fake town – according to the teacher, the goal was to spend all of one’s fake money on fake tchotchkes, ending the day with zero cash). Online programs for adults are okay, but not tailored for teens–it doesn’t meet them where they’re at and engage them.

I don’t have the subject matter knowledge to put together a course, but I definitely know what is needed. I really hope that you’ll consider developing a course for teens–I would be one of your first customers!

Pete

When I was a child I wanted to have a really cool car (supercar), and to be able to go travel anywhere.

As an adult with a family, I would love to build my own home, make millions, and travel the world and not have to worry about how I have to juggle money around accounts to pay for bills. My wife and I went to Jamaica last year and talked about how nice it would be to be able to take this trip every year to to a different resort, or to go to Europe for vacation. When I retire (hopefully at a normal age) I want to travel, see the places I haven’t been to and enjoy every last minute of it!

I remember wanting to travel to Tokyo as a kid. I was a gamer and obsessed with Japanese culture, cars, etc at the time. It basically launched my desire to travel the world (as with most people). The other thing was wanting a Ferrari F50 and had the poster on my wall (this was before I realized the F40 was better).

Today, it still stands that I want to travel, but not to just travel. I want to have an experience without having to worry about going back to a mundane job when I get back from the trip. And I want to be able to plan the trip without having to worry about taking “vacation days” or asking for “time off”. I want to go where I want, when I want, and to be able to purchase what I want because I’ll be gaining revenue while I sleep.

My dream is to change organizations and the lives of people that work in them. To change them for the better. To help leaders create shared vision with their employees and stakeholders. This is not only my dream. It’s my life’s work. And did i want to make millions of dollars doing this. Not only do I want to leave a legacy through my work, but I want to leave a legacy and inheritance for my wife and children.

Rachel

When I was little we used to play this game – what if we had three wishes. I only ever had two… 1) always have the exact amount for anything in my pocket and 2) be able to speak to anyone in their own language.

2016 is about dreaming big. My actual goal is to replace my current 9-5 income through my online business so I can move to Mexico for 6 months to learn Spanish.

Shelley

When I was a kid I dreamed about being a Power Ranger or some sort of superhero. I wanted to (literally) live in a fantasy world. Today, I dream of being a sports reporter on national television. It still scares me to say that out loud, but I think I’d love it!

Kristen Soloway

Right now, my dream is to see Europe, SE Asia, Japan, South Korea, the Great Wall of China, pyramids, Machu Picchu, Brazil, Mexico, and New Zealand (already went to Australia!). The world is an amazing, beautiful place and we only get one life to see it.

When I was a kid, my dream was to be like Donald Trump, and own an entire city (like I thought he did with Atlantic City), minus the hair.

My dream now is similar, but what I want is to be able to say tens of thousands of people come to me for their home. I want to own at least 1000 single or multi family properties (only 999 to go). I’m also going to do this entirely in cash (you said dream big).
The method in which I’m going to do this is theeefold: One, I’m building websites to help others in various areas to build passive income that pays me regardless of whether I’m actively working or not. Second, I refuse to take on any more debt and am paying what I have left off, (1k a month towards my own home would feel a lot better towards a buying another income property).
Third, I am increasing my education and expertise in the real estate field, because two things are usually necessary in accomplishing what you want, expertise and a lot of time (I can ALWAYS work on the expertise part).

Me too: my “appetizer” item was not having to ever look for discounts. I still find a lot of freedom in that! And double good on you for making sure to point out things like Pencils of Promise. I’m realizing more and more as I get older how much freedom I have to give to great causes; in fact, I could always have given more, but I didn’t have the right attitude about it – I was still focused on saving on lattes.

Amy

When I was little I wanted to be a doctor and help people. At 40 with 3 kids I went back to school to become a registered dietitian. I just finished but I have racked up a large amount of student loans and want to start my own practice but I feel paralyzed by the debt. So my dream is to have my own successful practice and get out of debt– well not just be out of debt but to be thriving. But right now I’m stuck…..

I just remembered I wanted to be a veterinarian because I thought they could have all the pets they wanted. I also thought their job was to pet animals all day.

My dream today is to sell my paintings/classes online and in galleries instead of working retail. I would like to travel all over the world teaching workshops and painting. Each time I travel I would like to take a different family member with me. We are all used to living paycheck to paycheck. I want to wake up and look at my calendar and say oh I have to be in Australia for the next week see ya.

I don’t need a man right now the only relationship I want right now is with a business plan. Aint nobody got time RAMIT!

RL STEWART

My Dream is to have the most successful menswear line ever, to win 4 GRAMMY’S (I’m a Producer/DJ and Designer) to be the 1st Billionaire in my family, to be an inspiration to my family, friends and others. Also to be a Philanthropist especially where kids are concerned. Let them know that they can come from nothing and achieve their Dreams. I want to build a studio for kids that can’t afford to go to school or can’t get an internship because they’re not in college. So they can live out their musical dreams. I WILL ACCOMPLISH THESE THINGS…

Joey

When I was a kid, I dreamed of being the next crocodile hunter. I practically worshipped Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin and always wanted to do what they did.

I want to move where I please and when. I want to be in a position where I can change lives while being around to witness it. I want to leave a footprint behind that leaves a lasting impression that I brought good. I dream that something will come to me that’ll help me carry out this idea.

Matthew

1. I don’t know if I ever really had a dream as a kid. We were poor, but I never knew it growing up. I suppose I had a dream to become…something where I built something (I loved my Lincoln Logs and my LEGO’s), or maybe become a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. I did have dreams of becoming an NBA player, but I just wasn’t tall enough (thanks, mom).

2. My “DREAM BIG” dream now? To have my own business, preferably online (I feel like having an office and a desk that I HAD to drive to every day for work would, in itself, be dreadful) making 6 figures. Growing up in a 900 sq. ft. house in the city, my dream has always been to have a sizable house in the country, with a gorgeous sunrise view, and having all future family get-togethers at our (my wife and my) place. Traveling the world (specifically Italy) would be awesome, but it’s lower on my dream list. Still, I would like to see a lot of different parts of the world before my time here is done.

Anjali basu

I wanted to be a doctor when I was a child. Then a disability derailed those plans and the disability became a full time job for 20 years. Now my disability is under control, but I’m at a loss on how to move forward with my life. My therapist gave me an assignment to list all of my dreams and I had the hardest time coming up with a list. When I look at the list, my dreams seem so ordinary, such as buying a house and losing weight.

What I really want is to have my own business. I will have the flexibility to go to doctor’s appointments and manage my health. Plus, I can create my own destiny and dream outside of just owning a house.

Beth

With the typos and tone of that message, sounds like a fraud. Anyway, my dream has always been simple. To live in a small cottage in the mountains in a forest with animals. I got it! For me, my dream wasn’t about money, it was about happiness, contentment. And being able to walk (something that was in question for many, many years) and also something I got. All of it took commitment and risks.

Joelle

As a child my dream was to be able to buy brand new, fashionable clothes. (Simple dreams) I was always so embarrassed by my second-hand charity store clothes. Oddly enough I love getting awesome unique items from charity stores now. 🙂

My dream now is to have at least one online business, earning enough to ensure that my husband and myself are comfortable all the way through to old age, as well as assist my parents once they get to retirement age. By ‘comfortable’ I mean ideally live in Asia and travel whenever and wherever we feel like it. (I live in South Africa currently).

Sarah

1. The thing I wanted absolutely desperately as a kid was a pet (it could have been any pet but a puppy was definitely top of the list, a horse wouldn’t have gone amiss either) but my parents said we couldn’t afford one because it made our rent go up.

2. My dream now: I love storytelling, film, and music and how they are all expressed differently throughout the world. I would love to have a business that provided people access to great international TV/film/music. Right now you have to bounce between various sites to find international sites. I’d like to make it available all in one place! I’m also really interested in the production of these entertainment narratives. I want to create great content with actors, directors, screen writers, and musicians around the globe. the entertainment industry is so western dominated and siloed off. I want to make these great stories available to everyone and bring people together to create new ones.

I firmly believe “There isn’t anyone you couldn’t learn to love once you’ve heard their story.” and I hope that’s what I can do through my dreams. Oh yeah and a puppy that’s definitely still on the list. I wouldn’t say no to globe trotting culinary adventures with the man of my dreams either.

**I’m really happy to hear your involved with PoP! I had the chance to hear Adam Braun speak and visit one of their schools in Ghana and both experiences were inspirational.**

I love you Ramit! Finally – some substance and soul in the online world! I’ve been studying online marketing for awhile now ~ and it makes me sad that not more successful online marketers talk about six-figures the seven-figures that and completely miss the boat on giving back!

My dream as a kid was to make art and be famous. My dream now is to now become one of the world’s most successful personal development speakers and the first to fuse music, performance and creativity into a new practice for development causing personal transformation for billions in my lifetime. Also to become the a Billionaire through creating life changing programs, books, courses, and institutes dedicates to raising women up in countries around the world!

Billy

When I was a kid, I wanted to simultaneously be a pro snowboarder, lacrosse player, world traveler, maybe president, and stay a kid forever. Like any other normal kid, time and money were of no concern and the world was for the taking every day.

After two years in the corporate world, I have reopened my eyes to the opportunity surrounding me every day. Today, my goals are: to have multiple businesses which I can run from anywhere; have the finances to live extravagantly but more importantly the time to do so; be able to visit family and friends whenever I want to; establish and grow a network of like minded and different friends and mentors who can help me achieve my goals; give time and money to those who are in need; and continue to grow my relationship with my girlfriend every day.

Each of my goals will enable me to be what I wanted to when I was a kid- while I may not become a pro snowboarder, I can travel the world and snowboard in amazing places often; while I may not become a pro lacrosse player, I can continue to coach and play at a competitive level. And I can definitely remain a kid forever!

I found that taking a moment to evaluate what I wanted to be as a kid and what my goals are today is a helpful excercise, especially because it allowed me to see how these current goals can enable what I have always dreamed of.

I do things like this in 10 idea format bec. I follow James Altucher a lot! 10 THINGS I DREAMED OF AS A KID:
1. Own my own horse 2. have my own room (one of 8 children) 3. find and be with love of my life (I was a romantic at a young age) 4. Helping people who need it 5. Writing and publishing books 6. Sleeping well 7. Have my own (2) new outfits and one new winter coat 8. Be able to visit my best friend in Cleveland 9. Get a scholarship to college 10. Have my Dad tell me he loved me. THINGS I DREAM OF NOW; 1. Totally debt free and able to pay all utility bills easily 2. Own house we are in and upgrade it. 3. New Toyota Tacoma truck 4. Paid up horse board for 3 years ahead OR even better own the farm they are on 5. Travel with my beloved: Kentucky/New England to see lighthouses/Destin Florida 6. Help all family members financially 7. Eat and have improved health 8. Weekly riding lessons from the trainer of my choice 9. Go to Alcoholic Anonymous conventions all over the country 10. HAVE MY OWN ONLINE BUSINESS THAT MAKES THE MONEY TO DO 1 THROUGH 9.

Juan

When I got a little older I realized my
Ideal job would be being a photojournalist for National Geographic and traveling all iver the world writing stories on human culture and the natural world.
what do I do now? Im a massage therapist at a physical therapy dept.

I still have gotten to travel alot and I am grateful for that….but I want more. I want to have a bigger impact, I want to take off when I want for as long as I want.

I want to keep getting better at life.

Right now my dream, specificaly, is
to start an online business that has a social impact built into it. I dont want something that generates profits and then a percentage is donated to something. I want to create a business whose whole purpose is to solve some sort of pressing social problem.

Something on the order of Grameen Bank. (Founded by Muhammad Yunus the originator of microcredit)

I’ll be traveling to El Salvador in March to work with
And organization called Techo tnat builds transitional housing for people currently living in slums.

Im hoping to have my Pencils Of Promise Eureka moment while Im there.

What muhammas yunus called getting out into the field and findkng that simple little problem that energizes me and that I know I can solve.

That’s what I want Ramit.

To get better and better at life (relationships, finances, health) and to have an BiG impact for the better.

ADam

When I was a kid I wanted to be an engineer so I could make things. Now I’m stepping into the entrepreneurial realm so I can do that on a larger scale. My goal for this year is to launch my new company/service and begin growing it to revolutionize how we do commerce and become the most charitable business in the world. From there I want to expand into other industries and have as much positive impact on the world as possible. I’m a change the world kind of guy, and that’s what I’m gonna do.

Jacob

When I was little, I wanted to be an artist. But even at 6 I knew that artists weren’t limited to one medium. It was more a way of life. I wanted WEALTH, creative friends, and lots of experiences. As I got older, I found my various interests to be a curse, and I never finished school, maintained lofty goals for myself, but lacked the determination to complete anything due to fear of making the wrong choice. I moved from Scranton, Pennsylvania to Atlanta over the summer for no reason other than to move away and open [some] new doors. I’ve been here 6 months and I’m finding myself uncomfortable having fallen back into the same pattern of waiting tables and wishing my life will change. I have done some side work remodeling/furnishing friends homes, and believe I am probably meant to pursue interior design. I’ve known this for a number of years but each year it gets harder to go back to school, AFFORD school, and stay motivated. My wish for 2016 is that I run with an idea, all the way through. I’d like for that to be the beginning of my formal design education. I already know that I’m talented, and passionate. I need to humble myself and realize that now it’s time to out in the work, regardless of how hard it will be. I’d rather have loan debt and be able to get clients than continue to work in a job I dislike and where I don’t get to be creative. Would also love a new relationship. A real partnership. I think people work better in pairs.

Mark

When I was a child, I wanted to be a writer. I loved writing stories and carried that all the way to high school until I took up accounting. With my aptitude in accounting, and the “realization” that writers couldn’t make any money, I majored in accounting in college and am now in that field as a controller for a homebuilding company.

Now, I’d love an online business so I could free up time to spend with my family (wife and 4 kids) and to pursue other interests. I’d also like the ability to create a charitable organization that I could pass along to my family and help as many people as possible.

Gemma Barrett

I love speaking at events all over the world but my dream is to not have to ask for financial help to get there – in fact, I want to be able to pay for others to go, and even get paid for the time I spend on writing and giving the talk itself.

Dani

I totally relate!!!! I have been speaking as well. I am not afraid to ask to have my expenses covered. After all, are they not after something of value? If they are serious, they will pay for your time and your expenses, to boot!!

Mark M.

I can draw. I work as a graphic designer, but I have always dreamed of being a successful illustrator. Unfortunately, it seems I suck at selling myself and my work (even with graphic design I struggle to “sell” my services).
There. I said it. I admitted in public “I am an un-accomplished seller of my services”.

First of all, I have to thank you SO much for your email/ post. I read every single word of it, every single time — You’re like a friend who’s not afraid to say the unpleasant yet brutally honest truths right on my face. No suger-coating whatsoever.

You know the sad part is, my dream as an adult is ordering whatever food I want without looking at the menu. Yeah I know, sounds SO LOW.

Long story short, I used to NOT know what I want – and THAT was the problem.

My dream now?
Freedom. Being financially free. Being able to work whenever, however way I want to. Traveling at any day of the week, at any time, and anywhere. Learning whatever I want to learn without worrying about the cost. Having the time to learn if I wanted to. Haven’t thought about the personal assistance, but according to your “I spend over $50,000/year on luxury services” article, that’s sounds awesome too.

Now the bigger question – How do I get there? Well, as a start, I’m quitting my corporate job (yes, just gave my notice yesterday) and thinking about an ‘online business (Specifically, blogging & YouTube)’ Truthfully, I don’t have all the details laid out, but I’m gonna find a way to make this work. Elon Must once said “If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it.”

Just recently, my dreams became super important – important enough to give this a try (yes, my odds are very against me (no experience, don’t know what I’m doing, etc.).
And, Yes, 2016 is the year of growth! (Congrats on launching your new site :))

Yamaludin

1) to drink soda every day, not only 3 or 4 times a year, on birthday parties.
2) to bring all the fascination I have about online courses to my country, to make them available to a looooot of people. I will be online courses producer.

Dani

When I was a kid, the only thing I dreamed of was being on stage or in the movies. By the time I grew up that seemed like such a distant possibility!!
Today, my dream is to be in front of an international audience as a speaker and teacher.
I have been teaching, but the audiences have been small and I do public speaking and the audiences are in the hundreds. I want way more . . . I want audiences in person and on line – – in the thousands. I want to teach to international audiences all over the world. I’ve had a taste of that already and I want more, more, more . . .

Veronica carr

1. My dream when I was a kid was to be an Oscar-winning actress and have a big lavish mansion in Beverly Hills.
2. My dream now is to grow my Freelance Social Media Company to the largest Social Media/PR company in the world. I want to be able to work remotely from anywhere and make money while I’m sleeping. I would also like to be with a man who is just as successful and ambitious and together we can be a power couple. Oh yeah, and I still want to have a big lavish mansion in Beverly Hills. But also one in Paris, London, New York, and Madrid.

judith A

When I was a kid I used to dream about a world filled with intrigue, full of adventurous characters and romantic notions. And I was their confidant.

Now I dream about living an independent life where I make enough money to pay off all my bills. Maybe I would build a beautiful tiny house to live in. And I would have enough money to travel to far off places and work on volunteer projects now and then. I dream of having the good health to enjoy that life and have an occasional adventure. I dream of hopping on cargo ships and sailing to lesser known ports and seeing the world through the eyes of humble people. I dream about writing stories about these adventures and publishing them for eager audiences. I also dream about going to graduate school to learn how to make documentaries about things that matter in the lives of people and animals.

TJ

2) To not every have to worry about money; specifically, to be able to travel between coasts whenever my husband and I want, to visit somewhere tropical on a whim, and to not have to clean the stupid floors.

Nowadays, my dream is to make 50 million a year in passive income, so that I can move to my beach house in San Francisco. I’ll also have a red and black Corvette (my dream car) just to remind me that I earned whatever I got. Also, I would travel around the world 6 times a year with family and friends. To get there, I am currently working on my social skills since I know that building the right relationships is the most surefire way to become wealthy.

Also, I currently run a blog, which forces me to learn more about online marketing or else I’d have zero readers. Online marketing skills will ultimately be the factor that creates a passive income stream for me. By the time that I am 35 (next 10+ years), I will be making the 50 million a year.

This is my dream!

Wiktor

1. Growing up in Eastern Europe during the communist times I used to watch a lot of films with John Wayne etc. Therefore my dream was to see one day the American Southwest. Once I got to see it, I was a bit disappointed 😉

2. I am rather happy with my current work, so this year’s focus will be on relationship. My marriage is going through some tough times and would do my best to save it. As some research showed once you get to certain financial level (75.000? per year), more money doesn’t bring much more happiness. Relationships with other people do.

Saffiyya

1) To have my own toys and not have to share with my brothers.
2) To never live pay chq to pay chq ever again. To have my money work for me. To be able to work when I want to work. To go on vacation more than once a year.

Alberto Rodriguez

As a kid I always wanted to buy my mom a house. Watching her struggle was the worst thing ever.
Today my dream is to do something big that’ll change my entire life so that I can make my dream, when I was younger come true.

Lauren P

When I was younger, I remember telling my parents that I wanted to own a building we use to pass almost everyday. It was an office building with three tiers and some water features/artificial lakes built around it. And I vividly remember saying I wanted to own that property.

Which is funny, because apparently I did dream BIG as a child, but don’t dream as big now that the world has gotten its hands on me. So, until you challenged me, my “dream” was to buy a house with a yard and travel at least once a year.

But, looking back on my 7-year self’s dream, that just doesn’t seem big enough. So, my BIG DREAM is to have that house (bought in full) decorated how I want it, cleaned on an weekly basis, have a personal meal planner & grocery shopper (and chef during the week or when I don’t feel like cooking), the ability to travel to wherever I want how I want with (or without family) on a monthly basis. I also want to have a personal assistant who keeps me honest with my schedule and ensures that I am as efficient as possible. I also want a home away from home new water/beach/lake. I also want to own a business with my husband (already know what type of business) that makes enough money to be able to provide service in the community for under-served youth.

Thanks Ramit for requiring me to dream bigger as an adult.

J. Crusoe

Hilarious post, loved it!
I can’t really remember what kid Jon’s biggest dream was (maybe afford every Pokémon videogame?).
What I know is that my biggest goal today is getting passive income before graduating from high school so that I will be financially independent by the time I attend college and won’t have to find a job during my study. Furthermore I want to help my mother quit her unfulfilling and stressful job and make her dream of working as a writer come true.

1 — TODAY: My dream is to become an globally influential career growth leader/writer/speaker and entrepreneur in tech (and helping the growth of hispanics/other minorities in tech), while making a successful business out of it.

2 — AS A CHILD: I wanted to be a Disney Imagineer!

Martin S.

I wanted to be an astronaut. Period.
I dream about having significant recurring revenue that doesn’t require me to grind at it every day. It means freedom to me to have that. I was self employed but I lost that business and now I am forced to show up and work for someone else and its killing me.

When I was a kid, my dream was to travel the world. I would pick up an Atlas and circle all the places I wanted to visit. People thought in my family thought I was crazy to desire that, but that actually fueled my desire even more;). When I got older, I did visit many of those ‘circled destinations’ and plan to continue;)!
My Big Dream now and my goal this year is for my husband, kids & I to move to Florida this coming year. We dream of being in warm weather year round, having our kids be outdoors more, living by the beach and living a different lifestyle than we currently do. We also wish to take our business to the next level and make a CONSISTENT 6 figure income.

Jim

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always wanted to fly on a private jet to a Caribbean island (preferably Barbados, the British Virgin Islands, St. Luicia or Grenada). It’s become more of a desire now, considering how bad the airlines are and how painful it is to take regular flights now.

When I was coming out of college, the dream was to have a job that paid $50,000 a year. The dream now… funny… is to purchase a 42-50ft Catamaran, docked in the British Virgin Islands, have clients work with me on the boat, sail the Caribbean 6 months out of the year… all within the next three years!

KAte

I always wanted to go on a holiday away from home – other people seemed to go to Dreamworld, or Bali. I went on an excursion with school but there’s still one theme park I haven’t been to that I’d like to go to! Looking back, the implication was my parents couldn’t afford it, but I believe now they also really didn’t want to go. They like staying at home and when they would go away they preferred camping.

Now… I want the flexibility to take holidays and weekends away and also to attend workshops, festivals and conferences whenever I want… And I want to write and publish bestselling books!

I loved your question in your email today. My dream when I was little used to be living in my own hardwood floor apartment in NYC, talking with my friends on the phone, and having freedom to make art or have fun all day. Having a trampoline and bouncing on it. I still have a drawing I did of this.

My dream now is to help as many people as I can in the nonprofit world. What I’ve discovered, over the last six years of blogging, is that people really want work that is meaningful. And they need to get paid a living wage. And have work-life balance. The nonprofit sector is the fastest growing sector in the United States. 1 in 10 people work in this sector, and there’s a HUGE need for talented, dedicated fundraising professionals in this field. Trouble is, people go into fundraising, full of hopes and dreams (And no boundaries) for very little money, work hard, get no training, get burned out and quit or get fired. This makes nonprofits inefficient and wastes hundreds of thousands of dollars per nonprofit, every year. I want to help nonprofits be more efficient. And I want to help fundraisers empower themselves in their careers.

The funny thing about money is that we don’t see how we’re trapped by it. We raise it for our nonprofits but we’re trapped when we have to ask for it for ourselves. I want to rip the blindfold off.

So I made a virtual conference to do just that. This year I’m putting on a Next Level Conference for leaders to learn how to fundraise more effectively and hold onto their good fundraisers, and I’m also putting on the Fundraising Career Conference for people to move on up and get better boundaries in their fundraising careers. YES we’re having a session on fundraising salary negotiation! Of COURSE! Last year this conference sold out twice, with 550 attendees. This year I predict we’ll sell at least twice that. This mission makes me feel so fulfilled and happy.

My dream this year is to make $100,000 this year with my business, $50,000 with my online conference, and $50,000 with products/consulting. This is attainable because I have figured out what sells and how to sell and market it. In 2014 I made $50K with my business online, then in 2015 I made $84K.

I want to make enough to travel, pay off my taxes, invest and save and do it all again next year, helping more and more people every year.

Ian granai

When I was a kid all I ever wanted was to get on a plane. And every time I got on a plane I was the happiest kid on earth, my mom took me specially to Disney every time she could. Now, All-grown-up Ian, my dream is to be able to take my mom to wherever she wants to go, travel and get to know the world. My mom and my sister, I want to pamper them with trips around the world because thats what they both like, thats what the three of us have always loved. To travel with the people I care about most. I want to be able to pay my way through college, I want to attend RMIT, which is a college in Melbourne, Australia. And settle there. have at least two business in both areas that love, architecture and fitness & health.

úrsula

1) When I was very young I wanted to be an architect. (Done 8 months ago!!)
2) Now I want to be the architect that helps everyone develop a more sustainable lifestyle. Through the creation of affordable sustainable houses (and cities) and through the introduction of agriculture in cities to have zero contamination produce. I want to make the world a better place. (I’m on it, I’m trying to get into one of the best sustainable architecture studios to learn everything I can… but I welcome all the help I can get)

Growing up my dream was to be a writer and travel the world. I’m a late bloomer, so I’m trying to get my home staging & redesign business off the ground. I want to be successful to assist my daughter in paying off her school loans and other family members and friends. To be debt free and able to help others would be wonderful.

I wanted to be a tiger. I don’t remember that- I had to email my mum to ask. Now I want to create software products, get income to 200k and hang out with new friends that are also able to work anywhere so we can go rent places for a month at a time and make new friends around the world. Friends that enjoy eating, surfing and snowboarding etc. and places Like Berlin, Buenos Aires, Rio, a beach place in Nicaragua/Costa Rica and of course NYC/SF

PatRICIA

1. I dreamed of living forever (oops), but I did also dream of being able to order appetizers off a menu. We were poor so that seemed like such a stupid idea. Like, who the fuck orders a tiny amount of food almost the same price as their meal? And let’s not talk about desserts and drinks.
2. I want to remember how invicible I felt when I was young and how it made me succeed in everything I tried. E-VE-RY-THING. So yes, my grown up lady dream is to become invicible again. To tell my insecurities to go fuck themselved and to let myself GROW as much as I want to and as much as I am capable of, which I feel has almost no limits when I listen to myself and when I trust myself. These insecurities are NOT MINE, they were put inside of me by the very adults that were supposed to help me grow, but instead malnourished me into something mediocre, that feels okay with less than the rest. My dream is not about money, because I have this magical talent that always makes the correct amount of money appear when needed. No. My dream is to end this auto-victimization curse that runs into my family and, when confronted with someone who feels uncomfortable or feels threatened by my talent and self-confidence, to just turn around and surround myself by people who value success and self-growth.

RSA

As a child I dreamt of being famous. And now my dream is to make expensive things cheap for me. I want to work harder and smarter to make money, as much money as I can. I want to live the luxurious life of my own.
For online business I have not thought yet.

1) I wanted a horse, and be able to pay the monthly fees etc.
2) I want an expert based business which will 5X the income I made in 2015. I want to sell services, products and done for you packages based on my knowledge and be known as the authority in my niche. I want to be able to ensure I never ever have to work again within 6.5 years, unless I wanted to. I would like to use some of the money to pay for personal trainer, a housekeeper and to be able to travel as much as I want to.

Jessica W

1. When I was young, I wanted to be a pediatrician to help sick kids get better. My friends would be a pharmacist and a physical therapist and we’d all work together in the same office so we could see each other all the time and have fun.

2. Now my dream is to build a location independent business (as an author, artist, and mentor) that allows me to indulge in ways I would never have thought possible. I’d fund a lab for cancer research that dreams big too, not only for directly applicable and easy to reach goals and solutions but actually tackles the hard stuff and thinks outside the box. Not just better drugs to extend and improve the quality of life but seek to eradicate cancer cells without killing the entire human immune system. Second, to be able to support or found homeless organizations in California to make a strong and lasting impact on the people who have lost their homes due to unfortunate circumstances. To build homes and communities that feel like home instead of like a bunch of strangers crowded together. To help those who want to change…well, to change and get back on their feet so that they can be productive and successful members of society. It would be a safety net for those who fall on hard times and need a little help. If I could get the best and brightest minds to tackle these issues without worrying about getting enough funding or financial support, we’d probably be a better society than we are now. Dream big, yes please!

My dream as a child was to get my own laptop and a mobile phone.
It didn’t matter which one I just wanted any because all the other kids had one.

Now my dream is to build an online business for myself so that I can spend money without worrying whether I would have enough for me and give without thinking that giving will take all the money away from me.
I am working on my dream daily by first building an online website, then writing a free e-book and now I am considering writing a long e-book about time management and productivity.
After that I’ll launch my own product.
Thanks Ramit for reading. 🙂

My dream is to become The largest aquarium tropical fish breeder in the united states. If I had the money to achieve this dream my main focus would be on this beautiful hybrid cichlids called flowerhorns they fetch such a high dollar for the good quality ones that I’ve never been able to purchase a male and a female to breed and that’s all I’d need to start my dream if only I could find someone to sponsor me or loan me the money to get this dream of myn started last year the winner at the flowerhorn show in Thailand received over 500k for his champion winner!!! If you want to loan or sponsor me the money to start my dream I would be eternally grateful and I would promise you every penny you helped me with then some if you do want to help me my cell phone number 7172163720 I only get texting please hit me up you would make me the happiest man father on earth lol God bless

Hi Ramit.
What I’ve always wanted to do was run my own karate club and my own self-defence business.

My main goal now is to be the main income provider for our family. This task has been carried out by my wife for the last 5 years and it has taken its toll on her health and our relationship. I am a procrastinator, a perfectionist, so whatever I’ve planned or started to do I have never completed because of the fear of failure. This has frustrated me and everyone around me but I can’t break out of this mindset. I have so many aspirations but never get past the desire stage. I recently saw a house worth £500k and I thought I want it. I want my family to have such things, like taking the kids out and not having to say to them, “You can’t have that it’s too expensive”. It is very demoralising and leaves with a feeling g of very low self-worth. I admire people like yourself who can do whereas I don’t feel I’m able to.

I need to follow your example and get a grip before its too late. I don’t want to be just a dreamer, I want to have a rich life but just in the financial sense. Having my own business, controlling my own destiny would be the greatest reward of all!

FioRella

When I was younger I wanted to be an ice cream woman. I know, I was quite young and loved ice cream and I thought if I had my own ice cream shop, I can eat all the ice cream I want anytime. Of course I didn’t know anything about calories, fat and such.

Now I just want to be able to purchase a home for my mom. She’s such a hardworking woman who has raised 3 wonderful girls. She deserves the world! So in order to do that I have to finish paying off my debt. I also want to do something more meaningful then my 9-5. Definitely looking for ideas to start a business.

Katherine

When I was a kid, my dream was to become an artist or fashion designer, and not feel guilty when asking for a new Barbie.
Now my dream is for my business to grow so I’m earning mid-6 figures, and enabling me to live in Italy three months a year.

Roger

Ramit! What a great email. Love the ideas behind it.
1. When I was a kid all I wanted was an Abercrombie and Fitch sweater. We shopped at the bugle boy and my mom thought it was a waste of money.
2. I want to create passive income through selling raw land on land contracts, then be financially secure enough to open an animal sanctuary for neglected and abused animals of all kinds (check out Inside Man season 3 episode 3)

alex clark

1.) I barely even remember dreams from when I was younger, but what I do remember was wanting to eat at restaurants as a kid when we’d go places instead of bringing a picnic or something (my parents had money they just chose not to spend it on eating out most of the time and now I get it lol). I also had dreams of being a billionaire and helping people I loved by giving them good jobs or being very generous with gifts they needed or wanted that could help them.

2.) Now my dream is still to help people I love by giving them good jobs or gifts they need/want that will help them, only I realized I definitely don’t need to be a billionaire to do it. I am going to start my own business though so I can earn more and give more and have more freedom with my time to be able to enjoy important moments in my life instead of having to miss out because I work at a job where even though I have payed time off I can’t use it because there’s no one to cover my shift and it will burn my co-workers out if I take a day off and there’s no one to cover for me.

When I was a kid I dreamed of the following:
– Having an in-ground swimming pool
– Having zip lines across my backyard
– Having my own boat
– Speaking every language known to man
– Driving a jacked up pick-up truck
– Playing professional soccer
– Being a taekwondo black belt
– Riding on the back of a garbage truck
– A clean house to have friends over
– Becoming a fine artist and illustrator

This is what I dream of now:
– A vacation home on the beach (ANY BEACH)
– A retreat home in the woods, with tons of acreage
– Taking my family on exotic, or any overseas vacations (I travel overseas a alot, but without my family)
– Not having to go to an office everyday
– Running an online business how I want, when I want, where I want
– True financial freedom
– A Blue cord (Graduate) in Capoeira (3 more cords to go)
– To speak Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, French, Japanese
– A nice truck
– A nice boat
– An in-ground pool
– To teach kids about life
– To give my sister a better job than Walmart
– I dream that my kid’s are successful in all of their endeavors
– To be a great husband to my wife in all aspects of life

Acacia

I dreamed of being a famous singer, helping others through music and having a husband and 5 kids and being able to afford anything I desired. I wanted a family life opposite of mine. I’m actually partway there. Since then, I have expanded to wanting to open my own school.

Childhood dreams:
– Having an in-ground swimming pool
– Having zip lines across my backyard
– Having my own boat
– Going out to eat at restaurants
– Speaking every language known to man
– Driving a jacked up pick-up truck
– Playing professional soccer
– Being a taekwondo black belt
– Riding on the back of a garbage truck
– A clean house to have friends over
– Becoming a fine artist and illustrator

This is what I dream of now:
– A vacation home on the beach (ANY BEACH)
– A retreat home in the woods, with tons of acreage
– Taking my family on exotic, or any overseas vacations (I travel overseas a alot, but without my family)
– Not having to go to an office everyday
– Running an online business how I want, when I want, where I want
– True financial freedom
– A Blue cord (Graduate) in Capoeira (3 more cords to go)
– To speak Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, French, Japanese
– A nice truck
– A nice boat
– An in-ground pool
– To teach kids about life
– To give my sister a better job than Walmart
– I dream that my kid’s are successful in all of their endeavors
– To be a great husband to my wife in all aspects of life

Craig

As a kid my dream was to have fun forever. I remember that song “I wanna be rich oh oh ohoh” and wanted to be rich so I could just have fun and go to waterslides, sort of an eternal summer.
My dream now is still similar. I do have fun everyday but I’m not rich. My dream is to help others lighten up and have fun. I do that now just by my personality, but I’d love to have more time to devote to others. I am happy, yet I know my happiness would grow exponentially by helping others do the same. That’s my dream!

Bram Janssens

When I was young I wanted to be an architect. Today I am 18 years old and a student interior design on a university in Belgium. My dream is to create a business that create residential area’s who will be self-sufficience so they can make their own energy and resources. I think there are a lot of projects who aim the same goal but I think also that my view on the case can make the difference. My aim is to bring people together within these residential area’s, not by placing a playground in the center or by fencing in a green zone. But to create an area that would breath life. It is difficult to capture it in words but that’s not necessary. I believe in this and I know I can make this happen. I’m going to create chances and I will take them.

Husein

Liam

1.) When I was a kid I dreamed of being Richy Rich you know that macaulay culkin film….I didn’t really understand work and it scared the hell out of me thinking that I was going to have to commit to one thing/job for the rest of my life, I dreamed of having nice cars and a few houses but had no idea how to get it part from winning the lottery – Ha!
2.) I’m 27 now, still not sure how to get all that but I’m more realistic now. I understand I have to work for it. Its my dream to own a string of business (including an online business) but not sure where to start so until I have enough savings to risk investing in my ideas – I’ll have to keep on dreaming 😉

Jill

1) My dream as a kid was to be an artist and have a sailboat and/or be an oceanographer. And change my name to something multisyllabic and more exciting, like Allegra or Monique. I did get an art degree (and one in zoology) but didn’t become an oceanographer or get a sailboat.
2) My BIG DREAM is to build house 2.0 in Florida (possibly in St Augustine), within walking distance to the beach. I’ve been designing this house in my head for more than a decade and on Pinterest for a few years. It has lots of windows but is built to hurricane specs. It has a pool with a lap lane, and a yard with a vegetable garden and fruit trees. The kitchen will meet all of my amateur gourmand needs. There will be an art studio with tons of natural light and sunlight-rated lighting for cloudy days. The master bath will have a foot bath, a steam shower, and an attached solarium with a massage table and zero-gravity recliners. There’s an outdoor kitchen adjacent to the pool area inside the screened patio that has glass “garage-door” enclosures for winter. The guest rooms include a bunk room with play area for kids. The master suite has a closet/dressing room perfectly sized and organized for two. The beach/pool changing room will have an indoor/outdoor shower as well as a dog bathing station, which will be needed by the part-golden retriever mutts when we return from the daily beach walks.

When I was a kid I wanted to order the most expensive thing on the menu, and I wanted to help people. Now, I still want to help people. I was an unhappy, insecure, and closed off person just five years ago. I did everything in my power to keep myself small and miserable. I reached such a low point that I felt like I either had to die or change. So I changed. And I’ve learned so much along the way that I NEED to help other people do the same. I want to help people understand that if I can change, literally ANYONE can. And I want to be paid well to do so – I want to be paid commensurate to the value I bring to people’s lives.

idile

Nabate (hello) Ramit,
first my english is limited sorry. Second, at 8 years old my dream was to help homeless people. To create a place they could stay and start a new life with all help they needed. With the age, my dream is still the same but now its not only a dream I can really do something and actually I plan to do it in my own country. I know it will be if GOD will. Just wanted to tell u thanks to share all this with us. Salama means bye from an citizen of the World.

I wanted a go cart. I asked for one EVERY Christmas. Once I got a little electric motorcycle that I rode around the house and that was cool. But I still really wanted a go cart. Three houses down Jennifer Grillo had one. Her dad owned a car dealership and had it as part of a promotion or something. I am not talking about the plastic barbie cars kids have now. I wanted a gas powered, fast driving go cart!
Today, I want total freedom in my schedule, the ability to help people in a way that feels authentic to me (not necessarily politically correct or according to the business “norm”), and make a good living doing it so I can buy my husband the boat he desperately wants.
I am actively working toward that “dream” life!

1) when I was a kid, my dream was to be able to go adventure in the forest. I know it sounds silly but I enjoyed simple pleasures. 2) Today my dream is to become a millionaire in 5 years from the revenue of my new upcoming business. It will give me the ability to control my destiny and do what i want when I want to. That’s just the beginning, I plan on using that wealth and growing my companies and accelerating the process. To me money represents freedom to do anything, and I plan on doing and creating a vast number of things.

Michael lowry

My 7 year old’s big dream would probably have been to be able to buy all the pokemon trading cards I wanted. Even the rare foil shiny ones that all the kids wanted.

My dream now currently is to start an online business that can make me money while I get to go on hiking and backpacking adventures with my girlfriend (who I want to be able to afford to marry and buy a house with) and not have to worry about how much time I “am allowed” to take off work for getting close to nature. So that she could choose to not work if she didn’t want to. Or choose to work for a job she loved and not one she had to have to pay the bills.

I have A reasonably solid idea, and I’ve been mapping these ideas out. Also as a stepping stone to beginning my online business, I just achieved a dream of my own in December: To live in my own apartment! I’ve moved out of my dad’s house, and Ramit, you are one whom I need to thank for preparing me to meet that challenge through Earn1k and RBT and other content you’ve posted (20x your potential, save $1k in a week, and more). All of this has been done so that I can set myself up so my environment drives my success. So thank you! And here’s to a Rich 2016!

-Mike Lowry

Alex

1) I dreamed of being the first person in the family to go to university. Also to be the most successful, somehow becoming a millionaire!
2) Didn’t make it to university as I decided I needed money ASAP therefore I ended up in an engineering apprenticeship of which I’ve just completed. Still have the same dream of becoming a millionaire earning an automatic income that doesn’t require spending as much time in a machine workshop seeing 0hours of sunlight a day!

First of all, I have to thank you SO much for your email/post. I read every single word, every single time — You’re like a friend who’s not afraid to say the unpleasant yet brutally honest truths right on my face. No sugar-coating whatsoever.

You know the sad part is, my dream as an adult is ordering whatever food I want without looking at the menu. Yeah I know, sounds SO LOW.

Long story short, I used to NOT know what I want — and THAT was the problem.

My dream now?
Handsdown freedom. Being financially free. Being able to work whenever, however way I want to. Traveling at any day of the week, at any time, anywhere. Learning whatever I want to learn without worrying about the cost. Having the time to learn if I wanted to. Haven’t thought about the personal assistance, but according to your “I spend over $50,000/year on luxury services” article, that sounds awesome too.

Now, the bigger question — How do I get there? Well, as a start, I’m quitting my corporate job (in fact just gave my notice yesterday) and thinking about an ‘online business (blogging & YouTube).’ Truthfully, I don’t have all the details laid out, but I’m gonna find a way to make this work. Elon Musk once said, “If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it.”

Just recently, my dreams became super important — important enough to take action and give this a try. Yes, my odds are totally against me (no experience, don’t know what I’m doing, etc.) but what the heck.

And, Yes, 2016 is the year of growth! (Congrats Ramit on launching your new site! :))

1. My dream as a kid was a big screen tv and a house.
2. My dream now is a small business that makes money as I sleep and requires less than 20 hours to maintain throughout the week, earn enough to afford 2 homes (one on each coast), 3 cars (a commuter car, fun car, and cargo car), take friends and family on extended vacations, and lastly afford to eat wherever I want at any given time. 🙂

Justin Scott

I don’t recall having any dreams when I was a child. Basically just to grow up and move away from my parents house as quickly as possible (achievement unlocked!). Today it’s to get my student loans paid off and put away money to buy a home of my own for my wife and I. Big dreams? I’ve been so busy doing what I’m doing for so long that I haven’t really taken time to think about it. Add a the instrument and commercial ratings to my pilot certificate would be great! Have a home that’s paid off would be excellent. Overall, financial freedom and to find a place in the world where I’m doing the most good for the most number of people (yeah, fuzzy and non-specific, but not something I’ve given a lot of time to thinking about… that will change).

1) My goal as a kid was to become the star soccer player for India & make us the #1 team in the world (in addition to being the greatest soccer player in the world, of course).
2) My dream now is to complete medical school (omgthisissostereotypicalbecauseIamIndian) and match into the residency that will keep me happy & stimulated for the rest of my life while utilizing my strengths to save as many lives as possible. Also, I want to have free time to travel & enjoy what different countries have to offer.

gupta

Dude,
That’s a cool way to wake me up, although wish this comment box was way up there rather than having to scroll thru 250 comments to get down here ?..anyway.

I quit my job and pursuing my dream to run a software company and want to become one of the biggest companies helping small business customers with websites, seo and mobile apps. Have 5 customers at this time but need to grow…and fast!!!! Am a desi dude from India came here 12 years ago grew into an IT director at a great company, but was driven by passion to do this on my own!

As a kid growing up in India I always wanted to move to the U.S. and live the life here go to Disney and universal studios..

Cheers!!

Enrique

1) when I Was a Kid I had several dreams, I used to get so excited with life and been adult and had a lot of imagination and the sense that everything was posible. So as I read your cuestion I Was flooded with all those dreams me and my siblings have… From owning bussinesses, a Football Team, My own hotel to build a park, discover dinosaurs and travel in my won plane (plane, not jet, and I would pilot myself)
But I also came to wonder as I read your article … How I end up so wrong to get up dreaming a kids dream of been able to pick any thing from the menu with out minding the price when I had already think big as a kid.
So I realized how fortunate kid I was and how the efforts ir my parents lead to that… The thinking that great things were not only posible… But that I was predestinated To have them and succeed.
2) Therefore, I know dream of been able to correspond My parents, take them to travel, enjoy and expierence the good life and Stop worring about money and all the restrictions they now have.

Joana

1) First time I remember wanting something badly enough was giving kids a chance. A friend from a poor neighbourhood who was struggling in class was told by the teacher he would never make it, his future was working in construction (this is unskilled low paid labour in Portugal). Many years later, I found him in a construction site. Broke my heart.
2) Guess my dream is still to give kids hope, I plan to have kids, I plan to mentor at risk kids. Money is the easy part – becoming a fouding member of a school in Africa is cheap. The rest? I want to be a great parent and a great mentor and there’s a lot of work required to be in a place to deliver that, inner work, being patient, being playful, being structured. Workaholism is easy, respected and pays well. Getting into a growth mindset (real growth) is tougher. I’ve traded career progression for great mentorship, for the worklife balance to sleep and exercise (which I so so so underestimated), for time to read and reflect. I’ll get there, to a point I can guide kids to internalize great behaviors and to have great expectations about themselves. It’ll be fun.

Henriette

When I was a kid I wanted to be a stuntwoman or a director of cine-movies. I related the first to strength and agility and the second to the ability to manage complex projects and realize dreams.
When I got older I wanted to become an intellectual and understand the world and the people on it.
Today I am starting my online business because I want to be independent and I want to earn enough money to make our house a homely place for our family and our visitors. I also need money to realize some of my (and my husbands) projects and ideas. Fell free to ask for more specific details.

*LOL*
Simply dream when i was 5yo, I really wanna have bicycle!! I am tired go to school 2Km walking and back home with empty stomach? (My mom didn’t give money for school, she said “if I want money you have to work/bring food from home”). I hate my mom when i was kid, Jezess.. I got punched a lots!!! Especially when I didn’t study (Now i know she want me study).
I need bicycle to visit my cousin to play “game boot” guys, 7km walking?? It was worth at the time. Fvk?
Anyway, i got my bike when i was 12, even have to share with sister, i am happy!!

When I was a kid I dreamed to have an island similar to the Thunderbirds, where you can use a lot of different spaceships to help others.
Now my Dream is to produce my 3D Animated Long Feature Film aimed to children and become the Mexican PIXAR, I have been working in this project 14 years, that is why “I moved to California, where miracles and Dreams happen”

Alex Kopelyan

1) Go to australia with my dad.
2) Help end chronic disease with behavior change and synthetic biology. I think it’s one of the most ridiculous problems our society has, and we all know it but don’t do anything.

My dream as a child was to be a lawyer….now that I am almost 35 yrs. old, my dream is about changing lives and leaving some type of impact on people through fashion. I genuinely like to see and be around people who feel good about themselves. We only live this life once and I feel it’s important to live the best way you can, but it starts with YOU and how you feel in your core. So through a fun way, I assist people (preferably woman right now) finding their inner beauty (confidence) and exuding it through fashion. My ultimate goal is to touch as many lives as I can and help people to realize that having confidence in yourself goes a long way.

Alex

1. When I was a kid I dreamed every day about having a unicorn. I’m not kidding. When I finally realised unicorns aren’t real that turned into an (unfulfilled) dream of owning a horse.
2. Now my dream is to have paid employment that fits around my kids. It breaks my heart to leave them in day care for 10 hours a day so I can go to a job I don’t love so I can pay to feed my kids. I dream about a flexible business that draws on and strengthens my skills, with the ability to progressively increase my income. A business my kids can feel proud of too.

Suzy

Dee

Hi Ramit,
When I was a kid, I wanted a really fast go cart like several of my cousins had. I was the youngest and was always told that I was too little to ride.
As an adult, I am not struggling financially, but I am supported with a family business. It leaves me feeling like my money is not my own and that however I spend it must first be approved. I dream of creating my own income. I would like to add square footage to my home and pay for the remodel in cash. But first, I want to be a maker, not a taker. I am positioning myself to achieve this with an online business. Thanks for all that you do.

Urmila

1) Kid dream – spend all my time reading. I loved to read and there never seemed enough time between all the schoolwork & the other ‘necessary’ pursuits.
2) Today’s dream – be able to pay for my kids private high school, college etc. Be able to take big vacations (think Alaska or Kenya & Botswana safari for 1 month each). Be able to fund free schools in villages all over India.

MY DREAM AS A KID:
To be an artist. I wanted to draw on HUGE pieces of canvas from floor to ceiling. “flower portraits”…I wanted to top Georgia O’Keefe.

MY DREAM NOW:
I want to completely change the education system. Children should be learning three things:
How to effectively communicate with others,
How to understand and work through their own emotions,
How to find the answers/resources to problems or things they want/need to know.
I mean honestly who remembers the bullshit we learn in gradeschool? But I would have saved a lot of heartache if I had been able to practice for years how to do the aforementioned things. The world would be a happier and healthier place without the stifling of genius our (archaic) school system churns through.

It will take a lot of money and support…tools I am just now learning how to acquire and wield.

Thank you for providing the encouragement for people to ruthlessly pursue their greatest dreams. The world needs A LOT more of that.

1 — TODAY: create a successful business in tech career development (i.e. be a Tim Robbins for tech careers/industry) and achieve financial freedom to 1) buy a room full of electric guitars, 2) own a scotch distillery and 3) donate to nutrition/education research.

I wanted to be an artist. I am an artist now and manage an art studio with eight other artists. I have a full time job and want to “retire” from it and paint. I want to sell enough paintings to have a good life. It is possible!

My dream now is to become a business angel and to support cancer research for example by funding graduate studies and post-doctoral fellowships.
I have already started to coach entrepreneurs in Healthcare and to work as a volunteer supporting «The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society». However, I want to contribute to cancer research in a bigger way by generating more money with my business. On top of that, I want to find the man of my dream too. 😀

MY DREAM TODAY:
I’m taking an unorthodox route to radically changing the education system. Primary school should teach 3 things:
How to effectively communicate and cooperate with others
How to understand and work through emotions
How to be resourceful…we don’t need to know facts…we need to know how problem solve for specific outcomes.

All the facts and figures come later The archaic school system is failing us and stifling a lot of potential genius that could rapidly improve the world and our interpersonal relationships.

I am fully aware of how much money and support dreams to come reality…tools I am skillfully learning to acquire and hone. The personal growth has been, and will continue to be, monstrous too.

Thanks, Ramit for encouraging us to keep running through the fire and ruthlessly build the life we all have to potential to build.

When I was little, I wanted to be a great dancer and make $1,000 a week.
Today my dream is to NOT STRESS ABOUT MONEY! I want to build a monolithic dome, safe from tornadoes, earthquakes, fires, etc., hire tutors for my kids so we can travel so they know all about other cultures and see all the places we have just seen in books and TV.

Felipe Cruz

1) Financially sustain my grandparents (dad side) so that we can remove my uncle (you will see why below) from their life as he makes my grand mother’s and grand father’s life a living hell.

Grandparents have 5 kids (my aunts and uncles), one was born with severe mental and physical disabilities, has to be hand-fed/cared for 24/7, my grandmother is his full time care-giver. They are retired US citizens living in Quito-Ecuador, their retirement check is a whopping $800/month. A change in laws a couple of years ago got rid of an additional check they received due to their sons disabilities. Their current living conditions are very bad, all 3 of them survive with less than $30k/year in a country where food and medicine can be more expensive than in the US!!!

Their living expenses are split between 4 of the siblings, my uncle TC (initials) is the oldest, only 1 of the 4 that has done well financially, so he covers a larger share of the expenses. One may think that is a blessing, however, he uses that to manipulate the family to his liking, makes my grandmother’s and grandfather’s life a living hell, turns his siblings against each other, and worst of all his aggression gets worse and worse every year.

He emotionally taunts my grand mother for whatever he can, his most recent popular excuse to justify his actions is that she should not have given her disabled son as much attention as she did, and instead she should have given him more. Even though he was already 9 years old when his youngest-disabled brother was born, and until then, both of his parents had given him everything they could, more than his other 3 siblings. He has gone out of his way to hurt his other siblings businesses/careers so that he could remain as the “powerful” one in the family with more money than them, and as the only one that can bare the greater of his parents living expenses. Similar to what a dictator does to stay in power. He also figured out a way to take ownership of the apt they live in, which is just another angle for him to twist and turn things to his liking by often eluting to the alternative “they can live on the street if they don’t like the way I doing things.”

They live in a section of the city that is too cold and windy for their health-well being, so I also need to find an apartment/small house in a different section of the city that is warmer. They need better care, my grandmother is too old to be my uncles (24/7) 100% care-giver. So I have to figure out how to make an additional $50k-75k/year to fully support them, 30-40% of that budget will go into a savings account for emergencies, such as a hospital visit which has proven to cost $10k-20k in the past.

So besides being a DREAM, its my #1 goal for 2016. I already work insane hours and have a kid on the way, so I’m going to have to be very creative on how I can fund their living expenses. Its the only way we can remove my uncle from the equation so they can live in peace.

My grand parents are 2 of the greatest people I’ve ever known; sweetest, most caring, and loving individuals, always did everything they could for their family, so its the least I can do. Wish me luck and send some words of encouragement, I’ll need it :-)! [email protected]

If you know of anyone out there with a foundation that can help support situations like these, or someone interested in making any type of donation please reach out to me. Every bit counts! Happy new year!

Felipe Cruz

1) Financially sustain my grandparents (dad side) so that we can remove my uncle (you will see why below) from their life as he makes my grand mother’s and grand father’s life a living hell.

Grandparents have 5 kids (my aunts and uncles), one was born with severe mental and physical disabilities, has to be hand-fed/cared for 24/7, my grandmother is his full time care-giver. They are retired US citizens living in Quito-Ecuador, their retirement check is a whopping $800/month. A change in laws a couple of years ago got rid of an additional check they received due to their sons disabilities. Their current living conditions are very bad, all 3 of them survive with less than $30k/year in a country where food and medicine can be more expensive than in the US!!!

Their living expenses are split between 4 of the siblings, my uncle TC (initials) is the oldest, only 1 of the 4 that has done well financially, so he covers a larger share of the expenses. One may think that is a blessing, however, he uses that to manipulate the family to his liking, makes my grandmother’s and grandfather’s life a living hell, turns his siblings against each other, and worst of all his aggression gets worse and worse every year.

He emotionally taunts my grand mother for whatever he can, his most recent popular excuse to justify his actions is that she should not have given her disabled son as much attention as she did, and instead she should have given him more. Even though he was already 9 years old when his youngest-disabled brother was born, and until then, both of his parents had given him everything they could, more than his other 3 siblings. He has gone out of his way to hurt his other siblings businesses/careers so that he could remain as the “powerful” one in the family with more money than them, and as the only one that can bare the greater of his parents living expenses. Similar to what a dictator does to stay in power. He also figured out a way to take ownership of the apt they live in, which is just another angle for him to twist and turn things to his liking by often eluting to the alternative “they can live on the street if they don’t like the way I doing things.”

They live in a section of the city that is too cold and windy for their health-well being, so I also need to find an apartment/small house in a different section of the city that is warmer. They need better care, my grandmother is too old to be my uncles (24/7) 100% care-giver. So I have to figure out how to make an additional $50k-75k/year to fully support them, 30-40% of that budget will go into a savings account for emergencies, such as a hospital visit which has proven to cost $10k-20k in the past.

So besides being a DREAM, its my #1 goal for 2016. I already work insane hours and have a kid on the way, so I’m going to have to be very creative on how I can fund their living expenses. Its the only way we can remove my uncle from the equation so they can live in peace.

My grand parents are 2 of the greatest people I’ve ever known; sweetest, most caring, and loving individuals, always did everything they could for their family, so its the least I can do. Wish me luck and send some words of encouragement, I’ll need it :-)! freedomforgrandparents AT gmail DOT com

If you know of anyone out there with a foundation that can help support situations like these, or someone interested in making any type of donation please reach out to me. Every bit counts! Happy new year!

Jon

Hello Ramit. When I was young I had two dreams, 1) to be an Olympic swimmer and made to try outs for the 88 Olympics but did not even come close to qualifying.
2) To have a business in which I could help people, wasn’t sure how just knew I loved people.
My dream today after 145 years of youth care which satisfied my need to help people is to have a business online and brick and mortar in which I could do a skills development
The goal would be to get the business running to such a point as I could hire somebody train them and then have them do the daily grind I could do the on line part and travel the globe

1. I dreamed of having a huge house and caring for all the stray/unwanted animals. I was a crazy cat lady in the making.
2. I want to own a wellness center that offers a variety of holistic healthcare options, including massage therapy, physical therapy, acupuncture, yoga and guided meditation. I want to hire all the amazing healing artists I know and build a strong business that I eventually work for but not in. I want to create a business model strong enough that it could be duplicated and turned into a franchise.

Scott

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an actor in movies. I wanted to see my face on the big screen. Today my dream is to work when I want to work and be able to make money WITHOUT having to start the engine. I want an income-generating system that works when I’m working or not. I have always had the salary goal of $100K a year, but have a feeling that it could be a lot more than that. My main goal right now is to get out of credit card debt so I can actually feel some freedom again before I get into the other goal.

Michael

When I was a kid I wanted to be a Fireman and EMT. Today my dream is to build a custom home on a large piece of property and help build my daughters dream business, make my business idea come to fruition as well as travel the US and enjoy the winter months in a resort snowboarding with my family. I also want to create a non-profit and give back to the community.

A

1) I wanted to be a “June Cleaver” from the Leave it to Beaver show – traditional Mom who runs the house, supports her family and always looks great.
Did that in a way, lived in a 21,000 sqft house on a small estate – we could do a sit down dinner for 500 guests… Moved to NYC to start over, did, visualized and had built a mansion valued at $50,000,000 (fifty million, not a typo), spending only $15,000,000, didn’t get paid, started over, again.
Did community service and served on boards the entire time and raised great kids. Developed myself to coach executives and did for four years. Starting over, again.
2) My dream now is to grow an organic farm, raise exceptionally healthy and nutritious animals and produce to eat and sell. I’ve got the growing knowledge and many free resources for what I don’t know about farming. Have a contract on the land, formulating a plan, lack business and internet “know how” specific to this venture, recovering from 15 years of domestic violence and brain damage which results in “slowness” when dealing with too much new information or too many problems at one time. I imagine your eyes rolling dismissively – my lack of self confidence – but I hope I’m wrong. How does one of your programs fit what I want to do? OK, I need to read your past emails to figure it out. Answered my own question. Thanks for being the catalyst!

SB

A job where I can sometimes work from home and side projects like editing work, translation, copywriting and being an extra in a film or TV show. I have no experience in any of the above and have been living my dream of travelling and working abroad for 3 years, but I want something that will earn me decent money now. Also wanna visit every country in Europe this year, couchsurfing. Ah yea.

1. To be a fighter pilot, a scientist and business man. Also to own a Ferrari.

2. To grow the blisshacker radio podcast so that we have helped change the lives of at least 1 billion people and to be able to interview Ramit on the show .

Bliss hacking: 1. You only live once. 2. Have your cake and eat it too. 3. Crush it. 4. Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless , and add what is specifically your own – Bruce Lee All four of these are tenets of the bliss hacker philosophy. Every week we explore how to have more awesome in your life with amazing guests. Real Entrepreneurship. Travel Hacking, Nutrition and fitness, Stepping up your cooking game. Level up your career. Relationships. These are just a few of the topics we hack.

MIke

1. As a kid: Buy the latest video games and build computers.
2. As an adult: Run multiple small businesses where I can code, design, and produce digital and physical products. I want an excuse to have a high-end laser cutter, 3D printer, and a motivated team of designers and developers behind it all.

Cornelius

Gurinder Singh

When I was kid we used to go to village to visit our grand parents during holidays. We used to sleep at mud house roof tops with our cousins and look at stars in the dark sky, watch out for shooting stars. I used to think of starting some kind of business like readymade garment factory but never thought about it again after I did my engineering. Now I feel I should start a school for girls back in india and provide shelter and resources to underprivileged kids and schooling options.

Manuel madrid

1: as a kid I wanted to to do cool things just like any other kid. Go to Disneyland or on any vacation have a N64 !
2: Now as an adult I want multiply business that all work together to creat and innovate ! Let’s make the future now! I want wealth and the ability to provide a great life for my family .

When I was a little girl, I wanted a pony. Unoriginal but true.
So, I saved up for said pony (mowing lawns, mulching, pulling weeds, dog sitting…)
When I was 17, I had saved enough for a pony, but I no longer wanted one. Instead I wanted to go live in South America for awhile. I had the money, so I did. (And it was completely Awesome!)

Now, I want to take a dream trip to the Mediterranean – rock climbing and kiteboarding in Croatia, Greece, Turkey… – without having my business stagnate. I want to grow and systemize enough that the business can actually grow and become more profitable WHILE we are adventuring for 1-2 months. We have taken long “adventure sabbaticals” before, but all to the detriment of the biz.

Daniela

Remit,
As a child I used to dream that I would buy a house for my parents so that we could have a permanent home instead of moving from place to place.

My dream hasn’t much changed. I’d like to work from home running an online business with a creative outlet so that I could support myself and my family. They’re getting older now and still scrimping and saving and I wish they could get to experience some luxury in their lives and not worry about money. I would love to pay off my my parents’ mortgage, buy my dad a new car, spoil my mam, give them 100k, set up trust funds for my brother and sister and cousins, pay the mortgage on my aunt’s house and give her money, buy a house for my brother and cousins, earn enough money so that my husband could find a career he enjoys. Just earn enough money to give everyone the freedom to do what they really want with their lives if money was no object.

El

1) My most consistent dream was to be CEO of FIAT, the carmaker company (I’m Italian), and to be able to get a car as a Christmas present to someone – my sister, my parents, etc.
2) Now I kind of have my dream life pictured: after I graduate from my Master’s, I would like to move to the USA, get a Ph.D. and start a great career. I am a software engineer, no longer obsessed with cars, so I’ll most likely pursue a career in another sector. As for getting cars as gifts, it does seem like a long shot, but hopefully I can make it 😉
I’ve always dreamed of living in a big city. I’d love to make friends there with people with whom I share the same values – I’ll be happy with just a few good ones. I would also love to start a family.
I dream of going back to my homecountry on vacation, and traveling the world: I’ll go back to the places I have already been, like Japan and South Korea, without having to worry about how much I’ll spend. I’ll be happy to welcome my family and friends to my home whenever they feel like going to the USA!
Lastly, I dream of devoting more of my free time and money to charity and activism. I especially care about supporting STEM education for girls. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to contribute by teaching myself!

My childhood dream was very similar yours. I wanted my mom to buy Gushers fruit snacks at the grocery store. We had a big family, not a lot of money. We shopped at the off brand discount grocery store. I remember being mesmerized by the Gushers commercial. Having those as a snack would have made me so happy. Now that I’m much more health conscious, I think they’re nasty.

My dreams now have evolved and I’ve learned to be comfortable with the idea of having a rich life. I’ve set very high sights for my life and my new business so I always have something to work towards. Today, my dream is to grow my new company (using your ZTL system) to a level where I empower millions of people around the world to live their best life. I love the idea of getting on stage and giving speeches/presentations to thousands of people. I plan to splurge on extravagant vacations with family and friends.

Alma

1) My dream as a little girl was to work in a big fancy building in downtown LA. I didn’t care what my career was, as long as I worked in one of those buildings and dressed in a skirt suit and heels. I grew up in Los Angeles, and many times my mom and I would take the bus to downtown LA, and I would always see men and women in suits always carrying around suitcases or nice bags. I wanted so badly to be one of them when I grew up. I know it’s weird, I don’t know exactly why that was my dream, I guess it’s because they all looked like they did something important.
2) My biggest dream now is to help my parents retire and pay off all their debts so they can have complete financial freedom. Ever since my dad turned 67 it’s been a strong desire of mine to help him retire. He is now 71, still working 50-60 hour weeks with only one day off a week. Because he’s a chef, weekends and holidays are the days he works the most. He hardly ever attends family get-togethers, birthdays, or any other special occasions because asking for time off places him in a financial burden. This has been his life since before I was born, and it really upsets me that I haven’t been able to do anything about it. I’m a stay-a-home mom, I have childcare and transportation issues so I’ve been brainstorming for a couple years now what I can do from home to make money. From all the brainstorming I’ve done, nothing has jumped out at me because I always find a reason why I can’t move forward with my ideas. Although, since I subscribed to the IWT site I’ve had better direction, and I do feel like I’m getting close to finding something. So, that brings me to my next goal: I would like to join Zero to Launch when it opens up!!

As a child I wanted to have a career working with animals. I easily achieved that one.

I had an amusing realization this week: I feel FOOLISH when it comes to promoting my business. We went to put up a sign and had it not been for my partner, I would have avoided it for a very long time, due to this feeling of “foolishness”

I also have decided I am getting a tortoise and have been TUNNEL VISIONing this idea… How is it I feel foolish about promoting my business, yet excited about getting a silly animal? (That’s more of a rhetorical question)
My dream at this point is just to NOT feel foolish about my business.

Chinelo

1. I can’t really remember what I dreamt I wanted as a child
2. I want to be able to own an online business linked to a factory business which I hope to start soon. If only I can sit down to idealize it.

Nikki

My dream as a kid was to be an air hostess and this later morphed into wanting to be the editor of Vogue. Neither happened. Although I did train as an editor and copywriter. My dream now is to have a super successful online business so I can live in Italy and study Italian and shoemaking while living a rich life surrounded by passionate, creative and inspiring people. I also want to write a non fiction book and do a documentary – subjects of interest include humans and their lack of empathy (most likely a side effect of disconnection from the self), how food affects mood – looking specifically at mental illness and how improving diet can help alleviate symptoms.

Lindsey

When I was a kid I wanted to write children’s books. That dream has happened in a round about way. I work as a creative producer in kid’s entertainment, which means I help the writers, directors, & creators tell the best stories they can.
This year I want to grow my side business of business coaching to be able to support me full time by making 120K or more. I like the idea of taking the mentoring & coaching skills I use in my entertainment career to help people achieve their dreams. This income & lifestyle will give me the freedom to set my own schedule, work from home so I can hang out with my dog, and live a rich life of 5 star travel and eating out. It will give me the opportunity to help my friends & family if they need it as well as supporting causes that are important to me like animal rights, foster children, & education for the under-served.

Ashley

I had a friend commit suicide when i was in high school and ever since then I’ve wanted to help people feel love and appreciate themselves. I do that as a massage therapist now, but I dream of doing it in a bigger way and reaching more people. I’d take most of the money and spread as much love through charity as I could. I’ve also dreamed of being a surf goddess and creating a massive shift in raising the vibration of the planet.

1. My dream as a kid was to fill out a pair of thigh high stockings and have a drawer full of expensive lingerie.

2. My dream now is to return to my homeland and have free reign over a theater, where I will divide my time between creating cutting edge performance art and hermiting myself away to write wine-drenched prose by the sea in a warm room. And to add to my drawer.

Jane

As a child I wanted a horse, not a pony. I’m too tall. Now, I want to have a giant piece of green tree filled fertile land with a small school to teach at and send my kids, a barn, garden, and any animals I want. I’m going to get that damn horse!

Vickie flaugher

1. As a kid, my dream was to live in a huge mansion, and be a billionaire, with a B. Private plane, maid/gardener/pool boy, travel, ordering food without caring the price, and never having to balance my checkbook because I had so much money there was no way I could spend it in my lifetime, let alone ever bounce a check. My dream also included charitable gifting, happiness, fun, relaxation, gifts for my mom, and loving friends to hang with. This dream was birthed at ~10 years of age and was centered around a passive income lifestyle. Not knowing better at the time, I called it mailbox money, as I was convinced it would be from songwriting, the stock market, and real estate, not a job.
2. My dream now, is basically the same, although even bigger, and I have shifted to multiple locations rather than just one home, so when I travel, I always have a “home” to go to. I want to buy my mom a home too, so she never has to worry. For my adult dream, I have added massages weekly, pedicures every few weeks, a digital music studio, gifts for all my friends (not just my mom), and a huge dose of philanthropy on top. The love of my life (current one = that) would go with me, enjoy great food, travel to wonderful places together, and do bucket list items as normal day occurrences. My dream includes an online business, multiple streams of income, and I want it to be based on me, my unique gifts, what I have to offer that makes me valuable to others. My devotion to meaning, doing work that is noble, that touches people’s souls, and fulfills me is strong and growing. I feel I could go on forever….2016, here we come. This is the year to put the structure in place to achieve it. Step by step, build it and go, go some more and grow. Love life, myself, and others.

Great meme about cutting off on lattes, by the way!
1- As a child I wnated to make movies. I still collect ideas and place them in a corner so I can get to them when time is right.
2- My dream now is to generate at least 3 clients per month to provide my 3 day high energy INNOVATE MY TEAM training program. And I don’t want to work with just anyone. I want to work with startups and fast moving firms, Spotify, Trivago, Deliveroo and the likes.
On the side, it would be great if my newly founded online school- RENAISSANCE BUSINESS ACADEMY starts making 40-50 students per month.

A.P.

I’ll get personal and specific, whatever, I feel SO different from everyone else that I feel like getting it out right now.

At 15 I developed Social Anxiety, I couldn’t comfortably talk to anyone or make any true friends. From 15-22 my dream was to be NORMAL and have friends, to be able to be myself outside my house. This is a problem that society in general doesn’t even understand yet.

So now that I’ve fixed it (with A LOT of effort) I really want to LIVE. I refuse to bury myself in a cubicle doing the same repetitive thing from 9:30am-7pm+ making 700 dollars/month after having wasted most of my youth. How could I accept that?

Right now at 25 my dream is to launch my first online product in the next 3 months, create a Youtube channel (also to promote my business) in which I can show my true personality with no limits, start a blog and an e-mail list, make big money, write some books to promote my business, party like crazy, meet beautiful girls, travel, meet like-minded people, and constantly learn new skills (cooking, dating, programming, design, everything!)

Long term (thirties, forties) I want to publish a non-fiction trilogy and make movies and videogames. Maybe also be an actor if I get popular enough.

CARLOS PONCE DE LEON

When i was a kid i wanted to be a mechanical engineer like my father and to have a motorcycle. Things in my pathway for life change and i became a computer science degree and still don’t have a motorcycle. Your article made me think and i will change that in 2016. I am 46, recently divorced and left everything for my ex-wife in benefit for my children even when she is going to get married again in less than a year. It does not matter! Life can start at 46! Now i will follow my dreams and will focus on big dreams. Thanks for the encouraging message Ramit.

STEPH

1. My dream when I was a kid was to go on a “real” vacation with my entire family. And by real, I meant some place far enough away that we needed to stay in a hotel and order room service (the room service part was key)… which, to my parents, was a huge waste of money. We’d take day trips to the beach every once in a while, but to pre-adolescent me, a hotel and room service was the marker of a real vacation, and we never went on one.

2. My dream right now is to
– have enough money to pay off ~80K my undergrad student loans right now
– be confident about and enjoy the work that I’m paid to do, instead of being constantly stressed by my jobs
– find an ambitious, hilarious, and tactful man to be with/eventually marry
– move into a beautiful and affordable NYC apartment with said man, where it’s okay to host house concerts regularly without disturbing anyone

My dream as a kid was just to get my eyes fixed. I was born with congenital cataracts that made me legally blind. My mom did not want to get the old school surgery. When facoemulsificacion came about, my mom did not trust the doctors yet. It was hard to find a job because of discrimination. So one day I feared that I would lose my job so I went ahead and had my eyes checked and booked a surgery when I was 23. I did not have enough money but I told my self that I will make it work. So I did have it and it changed my life!

My dream now as an adult is first to have my own business. I would like to use what I learned in Culinary School. I want to have free time to do what I like intead of having a full time and a part time job. I’d still be working as a writer because I love doing it, but I want to quit my part time job. I also want to get a kick ass body coz I now like going to the gym and dancing and boxing and doing YOGA. I would like to have enough time to color my Mandala Coloring book and put up my finished work on the wall. I’d like to drive a car (you can imagine grown up legally blind right?). I want to own a Mini Cooper or a Volkswagen Beetle or atleast a Nissan Navarra… I also want to open a charity for cats. They need more love!

Elizabeth

1. When I was a kid, my dream was to be in charge of…something. Depending on the day, that might be anything from running a fancy, ancient Greek themed five-star resort (yes, that’s a weirdly specific dream for a kid) to being a big budget movie director.

I’m acting on getting to my first dream by starting my own business, thanks to Earn 1k.

2. I would possibly be interested in taking my business to a fully online model in the future.

Currently, my big dream is to have enough money to take the lessons I want. I’d like to be able to take 3-4 lessons per week in various areas that interest me, probably two language lessons and two music lessons. This would mean being able to have $600-$1200/month available to put towards lessons.

spr

From a very young age I had an interest in Biomedical Engineering: the engineering part, a nod to my wonderful father- and the biology part, a means to satiate my mother who had strongly favored a career in medicine. After the birth of my two siblings , nearly a decade younger, I wanted to be a Pediatrician.My hope was (and is) to always take care of them. Ultimately, I studied International Relations and Finance. Now, the brothers watch over me…and lead me to you.

As I get older,I really regret two things and wish to rectify my misguided decisions. My parents had been so kind to nurture several of my passions; I let decades lapse without keeping up with my interest in dance and jazz music. Also, writing poetry and a deep desire to be a polyglot where an intrinsic part of who I envisioned myself to be. The other regret is thinking that any substantive contribution to society can only be achieved when sizable finances meet the right organizations. I find my own logic to be such rubbish now because I don’t need to determine what’s substantive (that’s not my motivation). The world is aching and so much can be done to try and alleviate some of the obstacles. So my dreams are: to show up for myself finally by scheduling time for what I crave to have in my life and to create an artistic project which would benefit a cause that I believe in.

Wishing you much continued success! P.S- every decade there’s a day where I’m unusually verbose …today is that day 🙂

Gaurav

My dream as a kid was to be able to afford a lot of silly pleasures without feeling guilty. Buying toy guns, bouncy balls, having a house full of rooms in which you could play different games in each room (kinda like dave-n-busters).

Today, I would like to travel, do deep meaningful work, share & receive experiences along the way & have enough money (online business) so that I can provide for family.

When I was just a little girl… I wanted to be a doctor. I set out on that path, but life had other plans for me. I don’t regret not becoming a doctor, because I’ve fallen in love with my new career. But starting on the former path set me “off course” with the rest of my life plans by a few years. Now, some of my biggest dreams are to get married to an American Indian man like me (apparently, it’s quite rare for someone to actually be a good 50-50 blend of Indian and American culture and values), and to get motivated enough to get one of my many ideas to work before someone else presents it on Shark Tank. 2016 is the year for change and taking control of my life. The time for happy accidents are over.

seong

I wanted to be Batman. What?! He’s a gazillionaire, ripped, and gets to fight bad guys all night! How can you not want to be him?

But now, I dream of achieving a smash hit with this app idea I’ve had for the past two years. Recently, I’ve learned the basic of Android programming, and now I’m contemplating on the demand. Just today, I came across an app that’s very similar, and I will observe what its demand is. When I hit a home run, I’ll feel so free and at peace.

Mel

I travelled a lot as a little girl with my family. I loved eating and experiencing new things. My dream was to go everywhere, read and eat forever and to listen to people’s stories and help them if needed, wherever I went.

These days I am learning to build a home in one place. I’d still love to do the other things though, this time with my man 🙂

Abdullahi

1. When I was a kid I wanted to be a gunslinging John Wayne-type cowboy. I actually thought it was an occupation – the swashbuckling and shooting of course, not the cow tending…
2. I want to own an online business big enough to afford luxurious vacations and helping needy people send their kids to school to get a good education.

Kelly

Hahaha, when I was a kid (10ish) it was to have a huge house with a room full of each of my favourite lollies and fizzy drink coming out of all of the water taps lol, plus I wanted a Darth Vader suit and a Storm Trooper suit…. moving on to now, the suits would still be awesome lol, but having the choice to decide when I want to work and not have to worry about whether I can afford it, have the money to do mind blowing things for people and help make their dreams come true, and give my kids and really great start to life where the sky is the limit for whatever it is in their hearts to do!

Anuj

1. I wanted to become an archaeologist. I dreamed to learn about dinosaurs, handle the excavation, and analyze the bones, to one day discover a new species and have it named after me.
2. I plan to make 1 billion dollars in 7 years through creating an online business targeting leadership development in companies, not-for-profits and schools, investing in financial instruments (I am grateful for the “I Will Teach You To Be Rich” book for its knowledge), writing books and take care of my family and welcome all whom need a place to stay in a time of need.

Ben

I want to have enough money to be able to quit my day job without struggling, and put myself in a position where the business needs me more than I need the business. And I want everybody I work with to know that I’m only there because I want to be there and that if I’m treated poorly I have no reason to stay.

Dimas

When i was a kid I dreamed of of becoming an astronaut and traveling to another world.

I’m told that i’m a dynamic, intelligent, fun, and hard working person…. My dream today is to find a great idea that will allow me to break out of the shackles of the 9-5 grind. A way to travel THIS earth while providing a comfortable life for me and my future family.

1. When I was a wee one, I just wanted a horse – my very own horse that I could ride through the forest all by myself. When I became a teenager, I still wanted that horse, but I wanted a very handsome boy to ride with me. Then we’d ride over by the stream and bone. Romantically.

2. Now, I would consider myself successful if I could go out to dinner with my friends and, at the end of the meal, whip out my debit card and say, “It’s on me” with no stress, whatsover. No matter how big the tab, I could happily pay. This extends out into being able to rent a cabin in Mexico or Tahoe or an apartment in Italy and take any of my friends, family or a foster kid who has just been exited from the system. I would love to be able to afford to give people the experiences of a lifetime, people who could never have imagined it.

Shit, I don’t even need that horse or that riverside bone anymore. Both would be nice, yes. I won’t lie.

Devin

1. Build a jet pack.
2. Today I dream about having some land in which I can live totally off the grid. However, I would still be hooked up to the grid in order to sell all the extra electricity I produce, sell products online that I grow (such as heirloom seeds from varieties of plants ranging from amaranth to marijuana – yes I said heirloom varieties of marijuana like Thai stick, Durban, Malawi, Afghani, etc.). This land needs to have a supply of fresh water in which I have a very robust water filtration system, very adequate septic system, and a gigantic workshop with an abundance of equipment and material to build things like a jetpack. Several smaller mother-in-law type houses so that I could have an au pair to help with the cooking and cleaning ( and give up Horn get an opportunity to travel course) and for friends and family to come visit. Just landed also have a small air strip so that I can be flying my ultra lights around maybe even an Ultra Sport or like a crazy and go with an experimental aircraft, and of course he degrees Nestle throughout this land need to be at least a 5 to 9 hole golf course – that way instead of working 9 to 5 I’ll be playing 5 to 9. All of this off grid bill free living couple with an income from a nice business give me plenty of money to do things like put my kids through college or if they don’t want to go to school then to help them invest in a house or a business or a scheme of trying to take over the world. I also want an A-10 Thunderbolt II, maybe 2 or 3, of course, but who doesn’t?

JAmie

My dreams haven’t really changed much actually. I want to have the money to do the things I want to do without having to worry. I want to be able to afford buying books, classes, etc. whenever I come across something that interests me or that would benefit me. I want to travel and learn from other cultures. I want to be able to buy new ingredients and have the time and resources to experiment. I want to help people be happier and healthier.

I’d also pay off my grandpa’s mortgage and drag my friends out on vacation with me (paying for them of course). That’d be a dream in and of itself.

As an aside: massages every week and trips to a cute little tea shop too (if I can’t find a cute little tea shop in the way I’m imagining it, I’ll have to build one.).

Melissa

1. I wanted to be an eccentric fashion designer & live in NYC in a very modern apartment. I wanted to be glamorous.
2. I want to marry my girlfriend & I want us to stay madly in love forever. I want to be able to spend more time on leisure activities instead of working 2 jobs & fixing up a rental property. I want to have a cabin in the woods to escape to. Monthly massages. To not compare prices at the grocery. Financial security. I don’t care about being wealthy, so to speak- expensive things mean little to me. I just want to feel safe & secure.

Anne

My dream was to become a singer when I was a kid. Now, I definitely want to have an online business (hence I joined ZTL) and I want to become a freelancer at the same time. My dream is to earn $1M a year. I also wanted to find my Mr. Right and get married asap!

Gemma

1. To have a house with ducted reverse cycle air-conditioning. All the military houses had them and we had to cope with 46*C heat with a struggling swampy. Reverse cycle air-conditioning and a car with shiny paint were the ultimate in luxury.
2. An awesome apartment in London across from a park which is walking distance to daily food markets and a Montessori school that goes K-12. To be able to write my novels, coach upcoming writers who have huge potential and commitment, and have an online ‘passive’ income business. Plus time and money to support good causes.

fernando

As a kid, I wanted to become an actress and/or own my own bakery.
As an adult, I want to generate enough income from various online businesses to create a happy, healthy, worry-free lifestyle for myself and my family.

Sidney barker

ANDREA

As a kid I dreamt about becoming fluent in Spanish and giving back to my birth town. I found someone from my birth family and promoted international adoption on a higher level.

Today, this dream is still very much alive. I dream of doing all of this and establishing an online business that would allow for me to travel South America and see other parts of the world I’ve never been to, especially tropical places.

I dream of hiring my own private chef and cleaner to save time for other more important things like connecting with family and friends. I would make enough money to be able to fly my parents to my birthplace and hold a mini family with my brother.

I would have plenty of time to find a suitable husband along the way (one whom would naturally have an appreciation for Latinas). Once I found him, I’d settle down and start a beautiful family and adopt too! I would continue to promote international adoption while raising a bilingual or maybe trilingual family. We would live by a nice body of water and create our house from scratch utilizing my architect buddy complete with a pool on the rooftop.

Claudia

1) The fact I can’t tell right away, what my dream as a kid was makes me think… I wanted to be famous and a boss, to earn enough money to do what I like. Famous at what changed from time to time. Famous dressage rider, ballett dancer, piano player, conductor, composer (spend a massive amount of time with playing classical music, when I was young)
2) Feel like the sexiest woman alive every day and teach other woman how to do it (much more personal and beyond looking great than it might sound). Create a business, which allows me to connect with people all over the world, work from where ever I like to. Just enter my private jet and take off to places most people won’t ever see in their life. Fly my entire brazilian host family in which I stayed as an exchange student to Germany and show them europe on a month long trip. Have a coffee chit chat about life with the people inspiring me along the way. Tim Ferriss, Beyonce Knowles, Veit Lindau, Jay Abraham, Angela Merckel, Alicia Keys, Johnny Depp… and of course you dear Ramit.

Imagine if Batman were your fairy godmother. That’s me. So. I dream of being able to do everything that I want to do now (biomedical engineering, fiction writing, indie publishing, fashion design, business, cooking, music, languages, etc.) and that I want to do in the future (who knows what I’ll decide to learn next?). I dream of finding my guy and building a life with him, a life where I don’t have to choose between work and family, where I can travel anywhere I want whenever I want and I can help and support my friends and family as well. I want to be challenged to grow, to learn, and to innovate, for as long as I’m alive.

My simple dream is to live a debt free life with total financial freedom. I should be able to earn my lively hood without working 40 hrs a week. Take care of me and my immediate family for our wants and needs. Spend as much time as possible reading, writing, speaking and travelling.

My dream as a kid was to be old enough to stay up late so I could finish watching wrestling. No lie. I finally convinced my parents to let me stay up until 10pm for Smackdown, and 11pm for Raw. My life was complete. Sigh, the simple things.

My dream now is to own my own business, small in number of employees, but mighty in impact to the community and in our pocketbooks. If one dream came true, this one can too.

(1) I dreamed big when I was young. I wanted to be on Broadway part of the year – when I wasn’t on an archaeological did in Egypt or raising horses.
(2) I’m partway there – I did lots of circus training and am working on recovering my physical abilities and getting back to performing after a major illness. The archaeology got swapped out for an online editing business and I’ve got a couple books of my own in the works.

The horse thing mostly fell by the wayside, but there is a group in Latin America that does circus tours on horseback, and I’m on the waitlist for an equine acrobatics course. So that’s still on the ‘living a rich life’ bucket list.

By the way, I was at a party for new years and introduced myself using the word ‘author’ for the first time. You were right about how positively people respond to it as a label!

JUAN

Hi Ramit,
When I was a kid my dream was to go to the beach. I could do it ona School trip at the end of the year. My dad had to take a loan to afford it.

I have a big dream and others not so big. The big one is to travel to the 5 continents before I am 30, I have only traveled to 5 in America. The others are have the body of a male model and be able to go to a Lego store and buy anythink I want, log into Amazon and buy anything I want, books, memorabilia. basically being able to buy anything I want, when I want

John

Honestly, its the same thing. I still want to be an explorer. I would love to have an online business that can be managed remotely in half-day increments (early morning until 2) and allows me enough time off to pursue mountaineering or other adventure travel projects.

Michael

1) When I was a kid, I think my greatest desire was to become a rock star – some kind of famous musician.
2) Multiple ‘dreams’ really, some more realistic than others. Along the lines of realistic, I would like to find the woman of my dreams. Be able to explore and travel the world with her in complete financial security, not a single care in the world regarding money. Unrealistically, I’d be happy to be the CEO of a successful software consulting firm, earning at least $500K a year.

Wei

1. When I was a kid, I dreamt of living in a home large enough for a five-person family (I grew up in a 1 br house with my immediate family of my parents and 2 siblings, plus relatives who immigrated to the US who lived with us temporarily until they secured housing). It was certainly tight living quarters.

2. Today, I dream of owning my own business. I struggle with this dream, though, because I dont have a solid idea, and whether this old be an Internet or brick-and-mortar shop.

I dream of being financially comfortable – having zero debt and the ability to care for my immediate family, the ability to travel freely, to dine well, to care for myself without being completely stressed every minute.

I dream of being able to give back to the community through programs to end hunger, as this was a childhood struggle as well. I love cooking, and would love to use this skill set to make good meals for those who don’t have the means.

Geoffrey

Turn the three small businesses I’m involved in into massive successes generating at least 1000000 USD in revenue by Sept. 2016 See my romance in NY more than once or twice every couple months. And I want to be in the shape I was graduating highschool a decade ago!

Scott

As a kid I always wanted to be an oceanographer, because I loved everything Jacques Cousteau. Then I realized I don’t really like science that much, and I’d settle for moving back to California, living on the beach, and having my own boat to sail whenever and wherever I wanted to.

Annesha Bhoumik

1. I want to spend a month every year exploring a new place with luxuriously enough in my pockets so that none of my adventures/explorations face any obstacle from money standpoint.
2. I wish to organize the most expensive of Durga Pujas every year with each one having the richest essence of the Bengali culture. These Pujas will have free entry to everybody and will not be based on club contributions or sponsorships.

My dream was to do something good to the society, in a way that no one has ever imagined.
Now, 7 years later i have started a website edumyworld.com which links people with similar interests via any mode possible creating a new learning system and revolutionizing the education system but i am still stuck the site work seems to me never ending.

1. My 6-year-old through 19-year-old self wanted to be a veterinarian
2. I want to have enough money to be able to comfortably live off the monthly interest, and provide some temporary financial relief for a few close friends and relatives. A figure of $50,000,000 or more would do nicely – winning the lottery jackpot would be the best!

Zoe

Firstly, reading this made me feel even more grateful for what I have already. I’ve been quite fortunate in my life and whilst I still look at the prices at most restaurants, I am happy knowing that I can change that. I really enjoy reading every one of your emails and posts Ramit because so far I have only come across a small handful of great business people who really make positive contribution an integral part of their business, and who put in the extra energy to maintain integrity in what they do. Hats off to you! I look forward to one day joining those ranks.
1) When I was a kid I didn’t really have any dream other than to be happy and to have all the people around me be happy too. As I got older though and felt more pressured to think about a career, my dream became a desire to be a famous fashion designer. I went to fashion school and did really well but my interests no longer lay in fashion and I was more interested in why people buy what they buy and why fashion exists as a phenomena in the first place. I started leaning more towards psychology and that’s been an area of great fascination ever since.
2) These days I don’t just have one dream or major goal. I have many and am counting on living to at least 120 years old in order to accomplish all of them!
To chunk up to the bigger goals they include: Health: to me that means having enough energy, vitality, longevity,stamina, focus, and mental clarity to be able to continue to reach all my other goals. Health is the foundation of it all for me. Specifically in terms of health, it means following an intermittent fasting lifestyle, eating mostly vegetables, some fruit and occasionally fish. Ensuring that as much as is practical, I use products, food and other consumables that are environmentally friendly and generally free of added sugar and chemicals. Drink sparingly if at all and be flexible enough with my diet that I can go out and enjoy an amazing dinner with friends and not agonise over every ingredient. It means living a more active outdoor lifestyle. I really enjoy hiking, walking along the beach and rock climbing, bike riding and generally being out connected to nature so incorporating those activities into my daily life is mentally and physically rejuvenating for me. I’d also love to start practising an art form that requires discipline and mental focus such as yoga, meditation or a martial art. To me as part of the health area I also would like to experiment with my sleeping patterns to see what works best for me as I tend to be a night owl but no longer wish to be sleeping in. Actually doing my ideal morning and evening routine are basic things that add to my mental and physical health and productivity each day so they are included in my overall health goals. These are all things I can begin pretty much right now which is great.
The next area I’m focusing on is Financial and Career related. To be more specific, what that means to me is enjoying a certain level of contribution and satisfaction/achievement in my job, earning a certain amount of money per year, and owning a business that not only is time and location flexible, but that really contributes something positive and genuinely useful to the world. I want to be an expert in my field – Recruitment with a view to one day utilising my expertise in a consulting role. Financially I’m shooting for flexibility. For me that means being able to say YES to a spontaneous overseas trip with my mentors/friends and not have to think about whether it will affect my daily living. It means going to a restaurant and not looking at the prices, feeling comfortable to shout dinner for everyone if I wanted to. It means doing the basics also such as having automated banking/savings/bills systems so that budgeting/saving is not an ordeal and paying bills is not something that even registers on my list of achievements in a month, rather it’s just a basic facet of life I did, like waking up. It means being able to get a weekly massage or health or beauty indulgence for myself and my partner. It means earning enough money that my partner can feel comfortable quitting his job and doing something that makes him really excited and happy. It means being able to travel internationally at least once a year and to have a personal development savings account of at least $25K per year for courses, books, mentorship or other activities that will help me grow personally/professionally. It means being able to buy my friends and family and whoever else I want, a gift, whenever I want without thinking about the price. It means also having the flexibility to have a minimum income of $60K per year coming in that requires less than 15 hours a week time input from me in the future so that the time can be spent with my children (if I have them) and/or on other goals. Basically I worked out that for the kind of lifestyle I’m after (including minimum savings and investing and charity/contribution goals per year) that for me, the figure would be $250K per year earnings in under 30 hours a week which I feel is very achievable. Ideally I would like those earnings to be as automated as possible over time but I’m under no illusion as to the effort and time investment initially. As part of these goals I would like to run my own business/s, online, where I get to help as many people as possible to get more out of their jobs and careers, whether by helping them get their dream job, a promotion, more meaning and purpose in what they do, more money or time flexibility in their roles etc. and also help great companies to find and retain great employees who know how to add value and who really fit with the company dynamics. I could go on and on but there’s no need. I feel as if I am pretty clear on what I want and some of the how to get there. The how gets more blurry the further away the goal seems but I’m confident that as I progress through each stage of my plan and get closer and closer to the bigger goals, the solutions to the how will present themselves…or maybe I’ll join ZTL or one of your other courses to help me along the way.

Thanks for reading. I’m really curious what your feedback is (if any) and what your future goals are now Ramit, now that you have essentially solved many of the basic life problems like food, shelter, freedom, contribution and quality. What’s next?

marc

As a small kid I thought the idea of being a long distance truck driver was amazing.
Today I dream of running my own business with my wife. My vision revolves around a Country Home speciality shop set up in a Farm. A place selling everything a country home owner needs and offering a great experience. I want to own it out right without debt so I am not a slave to my own business.

Jessica Hamilton

When I was a kid it was teacher. Then my classmates started being assholes so I changed to Lawyer because that was the money maker and I wanted to show off. Then in high school I got a natural high from being on stage and working in anything having to do with entertainment. I’ve be chasing the high ever since.
The main goal now… well let give you back story. When you get a chance find the anime Ranma 1/2. There is an Ova called “One Flew Over the Kuno’s Nest”. The character Kuno goes into a shop and tries to buy a gold egg. When the shopkeeper won’t sell it, Kuno smacks him with a wad of money. The shopkeeper says sold. That is the dream to be able to smack people with a wad of money and they take it. I keep walking like it’s nothing.
To put it all together I want to be on a natural high 24/7 with enough money to be able smack people with and throw it at them when I done. 😀

Melanie Soule

As a child, I wanted to see the world. I’ve seen 26 countries now on a shoestring.

As an adult, my business partner and I started our own high end fashion line. We’ve produced, but our investor dried up on us. The factory is holding our product, demanding payment. We starve as it is to make this dream a reality. All that stands between us and finally selling our beautiful product is $15,000. As a child, that sounded like a billion trillion. Now it seems like such a nominal amount standing between us and the coming to fruition of 3 years of research, countless hours of sleepless nights, tens of thousands in investments, stress rashes, Ramen noodle budgets, and tears. I want to know how to not let this happen. How to find ways to never let someone else hold our dream in their hands and crush it.

Sidney barker

Crystal DSouza

My grandparents had a house which they built for their 25th anniversary back in the 80s in a small village on the outskirts of Mumbai. As they grew older, it grew difficult for them to travel back and forth, and so they sold the house. Ever since I was 12, I wanted to buy that house back. That is still my goal hidden among other goals. And it may take 5-10 years, but I’ll buy that house . And gift it back to my grandpa!

Still struggling as I’ve just started working since the last year, so the dream is still far away.

When I was younger I dreamed of being a rich and famous beauty queen.
Now, my dreams, in no particular order: 1) marrying the man who is meant to be my partner, 2) starting an online retail business- designing bohemian/yoga conscious clothing, 3) increasing my income through my current business, without being a sellout, 4) having enough income to use towards being more of a student than a teacher, to take yearly trips to study my craft so that I can be more of service to people.

Gary

1. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a scientist. A mad scientist. Taking science to the extreme and creating amazing and deadly tech.

2. Now I just want a lot of money and buy a huge piece of land. On that land I’d build my dream house, an animal sanctuary, an organic fruit and veg garden, and maybe a couple of apartment complex to rent out for some side income. I also want to pay off my student loans and parent’s debt. I’d give each of my sisters some money to set up their retirement funds. Lastly I’d invest in my health first (get fit) and then in improving myself to become a better person.

My grand-uncle was one of the first Muslim doctors in Cape Town and my childhood hero. So my dream as a child was to be a doctor. (I am one) but my later dream was to be a filmmaker, which I’m working on.

My immediate dream is to make a weightloss behavioral app based on the 4hr Body and have Tim endorse it. I’ve made a medical app already (Aviro HIV mentor) but I think this idea has the most promise.

Shiva

Henriette

1) When I was young I dreamt about becoming a stuntman or a director for cine movies. I related that to being strong and flexible and being able to realize complex projects that make dreams come true. When I grew older I wanted to become an intellectual. I wanted to understand the world and the people in it.
2) Nowadays I still dream about these things but I’ve gotten more realistic. I am neither of the three. I wish that we can make our house a homely place for our family and our guests. And I am building my online business in order to earn enough money to realize my projects and ideas. Feel free to ask for any details.

ncube onesimus

Ingrid

That was a great moment dreaming big!
1) as a child, I wanted to live an Indiana Jones type of life! Travel, mysteries, adventure
2) Today I dream of the time and financial freedom to fullfil all my family’s dreams! that’s many : To visit the most beautiful world mountains with my husband, from Cap Verde, to Altiplano, to Lhassa , and offer him a personal musical and humanitarian encounter with Bono from U2. To spark my 3 children’s dreams and offer them an immersion week with great people : the best cooking Chefs, the most inspiring Parkour runners ; the most Scientifically advanced minds. And for me to Direct a science-fiction feature film and travel once to space .

CHRISTOPHER

Is it weird that I can’t currently find myself able to dream BIG, as you say. Naturally yes, I dream of more freedom, perhaps the apartment, etc. Thats easy and not really thinking BIG. I want to achieve the Rich Life because it will give me the platform to think on a far bigger scale than what I currently am. I don’t know that will look like. Perhaps giving back in ways I didn’t think possible, or providing for my whole family in ways in can’t currently picture. But part of the fun I think is not knowing and surprising yourself in the future. I didn’t answer your questions directly, just a passing comment, hope you don’t mind.

stace

1. Childhood dream – to be author, actress, entrepreneur, psychologist and a politician or diplomoat. Wear nice clothes and go into town and to go France and speak French, and volunteer with World Vision.

2. To have more kids, and fund the ones I am responsible for now, be loving relationship living together doing projects together and to be able to travel a couple of months ayear and be based in two countries.

Christel

My dream as a kid was simply to be known worldwide for my accomplishments. I wanted to be an Olympic ice skater, an archaeologist or paleontologist, an artist, a writer, an actress…. whatever my current interest was, I wanted to be one of the best and I wanted to be world famous for it.

As an adult, my dream is specific to writing, producing and performing music. But I no longer desire fame for my own ego; I want to awaken people to the reality of God’s love (and His existence, for many!) because my life and self have been so profoundly changed as a result of my relationship with Him — changed in a manner and magnitude that leaves me with absolute certainty as to Who is responsible for those changes. This coming from a woman who for most of her life believed that God either was an asshole or did not exist at all.

1. My dream was to become an Astronaut. I thought what an adventure, adrenaline rush, and oppourtunity to explore.

2. Now I realize the dream was to go to space and not become an Astronaut. It’s still a dream, and now a 10 year goal (see Ramit’s strategy “How to overcome laziness” by writing effective goal statements…brilliant!). Even better it’s more attainable than ever with Virgin Galatic selling seats for $250k. Thinking big even as I write this just 4 hrs after losing my job because a failed to pass a certification (good thing I have a good attitude, grit, and the Resume Makeover program. Love it!). I loss of a job is difficult so can a failure, problem, or tragedy. Instead of getting pissed, sulking or depressed (emotional paralysis), by performing this little excersice it helps to prevent me from getting stuck or giving up, and by writing down the answers to the following questions makes it real (writing answers down prevents circular thought and makes me have to address what’s in front of me) 1. What is great about this? 2. What is great about this problem? 3. What’s not perfect yet? 4. What are you willing to do to make it the way you want it? (put in the time) 5. What are you not willing to do? (thank you Tony Robbins for this..from Business Mastery). I know I will land another job and while I’m in the hunt I’ll improve my 1k month business by getting clear, concise, and focused on about what it is I want. I decided to sit down this week for 8 hours and launch my online course! The most important thing I’ve learned about improving a website in the last 6 months, whether starting or already created, this advice from Ramit’s Call to Action program, which had a HUGE impact on my website….here it us..wait for it… writing good copy! Wow! By changing the copy on my website I have increased conversions (from 2 or 3 inquiries to 6 or 7 a month with 2 bookings a month..instead of one every month or so). Traffic increased from 100 visitors a month to 1000..this is a great metric but wortless if I’m not growing my email list. So I’m using 3 Key Performance Indicators (from the Call To Action program) to track progress. And Ramit, if you’re reading this thank you!

When I was in class 8, I wanted to be a Software Engineer and write great user-friendly code so that my brother would be proud of me. I guess this is the first time I have accepted this to anyone, including myself!!! Thanks for that.
As an adult I have 2 dreams. One, get a doctorate degree. And two, visit all the beautiful places on this earth that abound in natural beauty, with my husband and kids. I realize that I need to earn enough as well as have a flexible work schedule for that. Happy dreaming till that comes to fruition.

I know am not even an everage on this online blogging business, not sure if there’s anyone worse than i am. growing in kenya my dream was to eat pizza. i now want to one day inspire others like me, No matter how long it takes, let me die trying but are give it my best, let it kill me, thats how bad i want it. The Woman of my dreams left in the bigining of this year. didn’t have much to give.
My dream is to take a picture in a yartch holding a glass of wine at the Bahamas with the woman of my dreams.

Kamen

As a kid I dreamed about having a girlfriend/wife and being a respectable suit-wearing adult. My dream came true and it’s cool but it’s not enough.

Now, I dream of being super fit (think six-pack), having the energy to think clearly and concentrate all day long and last but not least: being able to afford exotic week-long vacations at a couple of days notice.

Veronika

As a child, I’ve dreamt about being a zoologist and roam the wild, discovering new species.
Now I’m dreaming about having a successful creative business and being able to live in a house with a big garden. Growing some of our food and having a kickass wooden house for the boys. And not having to do the cleaning myself (the cooking I enjoy ;))

Kama

As a child, I fantasized about owning a purse with a lot of pockets and hidden compartments and a home that I could get lost in/explore forever. I dreamed I would ensure everyone had a place to live.

Today, I want to own a Basquiat because I want proof that successes aren’t impossible and that the world is a play place. I want the time freedom and financial freedom to learn and explore nonstop and I want to help people and animals meet their basic needs with dignity.

Connie

Martyna

As a child I dreamed of being an artist and going to Paris.
Now my dreams are actually the same. Additionally, I long for a man to be by my side. I must have failed somewhere on the way as I’m starting to feel despondent.

olachi

As a kid, I’m not sure I had any dreams..if I did I can’t remember them.
My earliest recollection of having a dream was all the way in college…I wanted to be a beauty queen and contest and win several pageants and live that life..ya know.
I told a friend of mine this dream and she laughed in my face, i never dreamed that dream again.

Now that I am older, my dream is to speak. To speak about living life at our greatest potential – to speak to every soul… man, woman child about living their greatest life and exploring their greatest potential. Living life the way it was originally intended to be lived. I want to travel the world with my family..first class to the most beautiful places in the world. I want to author books. I want people to know my name for all the impact I make wherever I may be etc. : )

SHREERAM

When I was a kid my dream was to become a veterinarian who was secretly Batman, because I love animals and Batman. I also wanted to travel time, have a badass gun, and the body of an action figure.

I’m 19 years old and my dream now is to have my own business which makes people’s lives easier and brings in enough money so I can buy a Mercedes for my mom and dad, and a Nissan GT-R for myself(to start with). And later on become like Batman, if possible.

I also want to open up my own NGO to help animals in need.

I’m currently learning to code in Python, and I want to learn at least 3 programming languages by the end of this year, to create an app myself.

I also want to learn how to fight, and I want to be okay-ish in Krav Maga before 2017. I also wanna be able to fight as well as Conor McGregor.

Sofia

1- I wanted to be an artist, I wanted to know how to drive and most of all I wanted to be independent –meaning, earning my own money, making my own decisions. It’s weird but it sounds like I wanted to be a grown up! Lol
2- I don’t even know where to begin! I still don’t know how to drive and my independence is sketchy atm… So I still want those things, but now I also want more financial freedom, traveling, a bigger house where I could have a workshop, and so much more!!!

What do *you* want *now* Ramit? I’m curious 😛

nicole

I want to have my own online yoga business. I want my business to be portable. I want to make my money based on the value I provide, not based on my time. I want to make videos and either post them to YouTube or allow members to subscribe to my own site. I am currently enrolled in a Yoga Alliance certified yoga teacher training and later today I am going to contact someone about renting a space for me to hold classes and for me to film in.

K

I wanted to be an Olympic gold medallist swimmer and/or a dentist (I was a strange kid…) and own a horse and Belle’s library from the Disney verson of Beauty and the Beast.

Now I want to earn enough money for four specific goals: to move my elderly grandmother out of her awful care home and pay for the best private care possible; to be able to travel to see my friends (scattered across the world) at the drop of a hat; to never have to worry about “can I afford x/y/z?” again and be secure in the knowledge I’ve provided enough for my future/retirement; to enable me to donate/redistribute a significant portion of money/wealth to others in need. I want to leave behind my crappy job and get wealthy doing something active & about which I’m more passionate than anything. Plus, the old cliché, find/settle down with the love of my life and carve out a beautiful adventure together for the rest of our days, maybe even getting our house custom-built, but either way it’s going to have a swimming pool and a spacious garden. If the love of my life turns out not to be a chef or a massage therapist, I can’t lie, I’d probably want to hire each of those.

And I still want Belle’s library.

Michael

sharon

Ramit, thanks for asking and sharing.buying a cello and performing. getting that farmstead and growing acres of exotic fruit, lemon grass and frangipani./ pulmeria. as well as creating jobs for my bamboo drums.

When I was a kid, I wanted to drive a fire truck. Not be a fire fighter, just drive the truck. I thought the way the back of the truck swung around corners looked fun.

Now, my dream is to turn my physical business (Certified Computer Technician and IT Consultant) into an online business. I want more control of my work schedule, to destroy the cap on my current income level, and to have enough money saved to allow me to focus on taking the prereqs for an MD-PhD program.

1) Win the lottery and hand the money to dad so he wouldn’t have to leave. I’ve even learned to operate those old punch card lottery machines.
2) Build a huge recycling facility with portuary structure in Plastun, Russia. Refurbish a retired cargo ship to collect all the garbage from Japan to recicle it there. Clean the pacific garbage patch and put a thorium molten salt reactor on the ship would be a plus.

Mohammed

1. I hated sleeping in the car or at rest areas when driving on long road trips to visit family. Now that I have my own kids, I make sure to leave early in the morning and take ample breaks through out the day, along with extra days off, so that my family and I actually enjoy a short 9-hour drive. If it’s a longer drive (12+ hours) with kids, I make sure to book a nice hotel, so the family gets some good R&R. It just makes driving with the family so much more worth it.

2. I wish I could start buying businesses. I know of many great businesses that are for sale that simply won’t be able to continue, because the owners are retiring and want someone else to take over.

DAN

Dream now: I want to run my own self-publishing company. Book 1 is done, ready for another self-edit before I send to a professional editor. Book 2 is 80% through the first draft. Book 3 is 10% through planning. I never could have dreamed of how much fun it is to do this.

This fits in exactly with the idea of a Rich Life. I want to do something, so I do it. If it doesn’t make any money, so what? Learn and move on. Do it (or something else) better next time.

Petriina

When I was a little kid I dreamed of becoming Santa Claus so that I could live forever and give people presents. I would have been very modern young female Santa in that case. Haha! Few years later I started dreaming of winning World Championships in my sport and I did do that on junior level, so I kind of fulfilled that dream.

Now I dream of finding a boyfriend who is passionate about what he does for living, with whom I can talk about anything in this universe, who wants to travel with me around the world, who loves outdoors as much as I do and who makes me laugh and surprises me often. I know he is out there!

t

My dream as a kid was to be a mom. I now have five kids here on eart and my youngest in Heaven. Which leads me to my adult dream. To be able to live the life she didn’t get to. A life without fear…a life full of adventure. I dream of not living pay check to paycheck and making my photography business successful enough for my kids to have a full life.

Jasmine

Dreams now: I want to have a media-based business, something similar to what Oprah has – I want to have a digital magazine (or just a blog), television and radio stations, and Internet content, as well as a publishing and film company. I want to be able to take vacations whenever I want, and fly to friends or fly friends for anything – whether it’s just to hang out, weddings, big events, etc. I want to have a nice apartment or house with TONS of space, a fireplace, a garden where I can throw parties/gatherings, and a kitchen with an island.

Julie ann michelle Mayo

My dream as a child was to become like Fairy Godmother and do a lot of changes in peoples lives with just one flip of my wand. I always dream about getting an easy happy life.

Now, As years gone by, dreams had changed and realized that I want to have my own business. A Restaurant or a BPO company perhaps That could be a start. 🙂 I want have my own company where I could be a part of a change.; where I could be one of the reasons why people lives has changed. And I also want to have a family of my own. 🙂

I’m getting older and I want to have a bit of this life where I could have my own page to share with people who need help with their daily lives.

Michael abumere

My dream as a kid was to be a successful engineer, now I want to live a life helping marriages blossom. I want to build online business that will help individuals grow in any specific area of challenge like you are currently doing. Thanks

Will

It’s interesting that many of the above “dreams” revolve around working.

As a kid, I wanted to be a fighter pilot (thanks Top Gun!). That dream got shot down in 4th grade as my optometrist gave me some awesomely thick glasses.

My current dreams revolve around creating things and adding a secondary revenue stream for me and my wife. I have had a strong interest in woodworking for the past few years, but have not really put much effort into creating anything to sell.

One of my resolutions for 2016 is to finally open up my own Ecomm site or Etsy store to create beautiful works of wall art and other furnishings out of wood (wooden framed mirrors, end grain cutting boards, candle holders, etc.). This year will be a year of growth as I expand my skills and put myself out there to create a secondary income stream to supplement my full time job.

This past year, I got really brave and performed in front of real, live audiences with my belly dance troupe. In pole fitness, I overcame a life-long fear of heights and being upside down! Age is an imaginary barrier. You are never to old to start something new. Past experiences are not an excuse. Anything can be overcome with the right teacher, the right timing and right training. Desire just has to be stronger than fear to get it started.

As a Life Coach: This once tiny, frail, weak victimized girl has overcome severe childhood abuse, anorexia, bulimia, cutting, suicide attempts, and life-long depression to finally getting counseling and becoming a very healed, happy, healthy and strong woman. If I can get healthy and strong… anyone, with any excuse, can do this! I’m very determined to show as many others as possible how they can do it, too.

I am taking my love of fitness and dance, my professional experience in publishing, plus my life’s journey from abuse and weakness to healing and strength, then showing others that they, too, can get healthy and strong, both inside and out.

It’s amazing how often people see me in class or at the gym, and will comment on my progress [not even knowing my past and what I’ve overcome], and in the same breath will say, “but I could never… I don’t think I could… that wouldn’t work for me because…” and I’ve been accused over and over of being a huge source of encouragement and motivation from the way I respond.

So, I’ve decided from now on, I’m a Professional Encourager, which is what I’ve renamed being a Life Coach.

Usually people need counseling for deeply-held hurts, but don’t get it for two main reasons: fear/shame of revealing it or financially can’t afford it.

I feel that an online e-book or course would be a perfect way to take many years and expense of counseling and give them something they can work through, much faster, and in the privacy of their home.

I know to not waste my time writing until I know exactly what my personal market wants, so I’m emailing, internet chatting or 1-on-1 interviewing my friends, co-workers, classmates in bootcamp and dance classes to find what others are struggling with and how they word it. People volunteer that quite easily, too, because everyone is privately hurting or battling something. They want to know someone cares and someone else has overcome something worse. It gives them hope.

ryan

My dream is to have the freedom financially to be able to learn how to fly a plane and scuba dive. Not at the same time. Right now, I am realizing my dream of being a scientist and am in my fourth year of a PhD program. My drivers up to this point have been 1) being financially independent doing what I love (science) 2) being stable enough to help others that need it (parents, friends, fellow humans in need) and to 3) enjoy the awesome things in this world by flying the air and swimming the seas.

Levi Gordon

I have spent a lot of valuable time and filled over 20,000 pages in notebooks on ideas and business strategies. My goal is to own a successful business, a leader in today’s society. Though I have never given up on my dream, I have spent all my life getting by paycheck to paycheck. Every time I begin succeeding I hit a brick wall. Eventually I break through it just to hit another. I will never give up my drwam, mostly due to family. My parents have suffered tragedies that are overwhelming. Owning a business was not my original dream. My father has spoken of his goals to do so, which influenced me to give him his dream. I have never been one to give and ask for something in return. This is why it is so important. I will be successful in business, I just need the support to get me there.

My goal isn’t just to not have to look at the price tag, but for none of those around me to have to look at it either.

coco

My dream of living a rich life would be very simple:
1)Start making $70-100K this year ( already working on this with a feverish job hunt mainly in creative industry’s that make me want to come to work for more than just a paycheck)
2)Pay down/off my expensive sadness (aka my $10K credit card debt.)
3) Spend the rest of my time people watching in cafe’s during the day, sipping cocktails in the evenings, enjoying an occasional date night at a new or favorite restaurant or just stay home and do nothing.
I know I am not asking for much and that’s why my well lived life is attainable by working smart and through positive visualization. #pollyanna

coco

jenny shaw

My childhood dream was to have a horse & a Newfoundland. Well, my in-laws have horses and they’re a lot of work. A LOT. I’m still holding out for my Newfie though – just gotta convince the hubby.

Now my dream, aside from the Newfie, is to take my entire family – in-laws, my parents, everyone, on trips to Disneyworld, Disney Cruise or an all inclusive resort without worrying about how to save up for it, and scrimping and saving for years and years. I also want to take a Mediterranean cruise. Basically I want to travel. I want more stamps in my passport, and I want my boys (currently toddlers) to see the world. Travel is good for the soul, teaches patience, go-with-the-flow attitudes and the ability to be comfortable around many different types of people in many different types of situations.

I’m in the process of starting some kind of online business to do this. I’m part of the Earn 1k program and the new program on following through with things. The holidays derailed me a bit, but I’m back on the wagon and itching to start. Here’s to 2016!!

Dian

When I was little, I dreamed of moving far away. I now live over 3000 miles including ocean between where I grew up and where I’ve lived for the last 12 years which feels like just enough barrier to me.

Now, I dream of finishing the curriculum I’m working on and that it will be help parents and people who wish to teach themselves around the world.

Ramit, When I was a kid, I wanted to be EVERYTHING when I grew up! Seriously…….when I watched some movie, I think it was called ‘War Games’, I wanted to be a computer geek. (Soooo not me)
When I watched boxing as a kid, I wanted to become a professional fighter. When I was in gymnastics, I wanted to go to the Olympics. When I got a dirtbike, I wanted to race. When I got a jetski, I wanted to race. When I got my first handgun, I wanted to be a cop. See where I’m going with this?
What do I dream of now as adult? I dream the same damn way! I want to make money with what talent I was born with. I want to be successful @ MY terms, not someone else’s. Why work hard for somebody else (like I have for 25 years), when I can work hard for myself?!

Samantha

My dream now is to get a great first job after finishing my degree, and hope that leads into an awesome career. I really want to work in marketing or PR. If I became successful I think I’d like to do some non for profit work, or something that gives back to people and community. I’d like to be able to spend my money on others as much as myself.

I’d also like to build the house of my dreams and own multiple properties.
And travel everywhere I want to go (America, Scandinavia, Europe, Asia – South America) I want to experience how the world is perceived in places other than my home.

Andi

1. I dreamt of being a vet and then a teacher. I didn’t ponder too extravagant of dreams since I didn’t think I could ever have really nice things or go anywhere I wanted in the world.

2. I have many dreams today. I am going to travel to my homeland and after visit my cousin in France. Then, I would visit my friends in Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa and Australia.

Other dreams : I want to have a house by a body of water and build a pool on the rooftop. Once I settle down with a family *2 or 3, 4 kids tops*, I’ll teach them the importance of being kind to everyone you meet and being a strong person. I’ll teach private swimming lessons in my home and run an online business so I don’t have to stress over money.

I want to give back too by promoting international adoption on a higher platform and help those who are battling Depression especially the clinical type. I would do this with my time and share my own stories that few have heard.

Another dream I have is to write a book about all the different places I’ve worked since college, all the characters I have met along the way and most crucially what I’ve learned. In addition, I want to compile all my poetry I have created in one place and share with the world. All in all, I want to leave this world knowing I helped make it a happier and better place.

Julia

1. I wanted to meet actor John Snyder or Tom Wopat of the tv program The Dukes of Hazard. I was hoping either would be a celebrity draw at the local Cleveland Auto Show. At age 9, they were my dreamboat. We the family would watch it every Friday night after coming home from the Hungarian Scouts meeting.
2. Now I want to make my dream of running a weekly Smorgasburgh eating market with Portland character in blue-collar conservative Cleveland.

2. Now… I just want to make a lot of money without having to slave hours and hours every week with no life <– this is a dream that seems crazy to me. But I want to make money while I sleep dammit! And I want to make 6-figures with it at that. …because, I want a beautiful home, I want to own more property, be well-dressed, not worry about buying the appetizer either (except maybe I should for my weight, ha), and I want to have enough to be able to give back as well.

I'll be honest, I kinda stopped dreaming because I started to think it was a waste of time. My dreams started to become the "$5000 would be nice" only because it seemed more realistic. But recently, I've started to refocus again on what it is that I really really want. And you know… it means I gotta dream.

Thanks for your awesome website 🙂

golden

When I was a child, all I wanted was to have my own spacious room. It’s funny that I used to do the same as you when it came to ordering things off a menu. Now I don’t focus on price but rather on what is suitably healthy. I have always wanted to be the best writer – I want to grow my blog (bewhole.co.za) into an established brand and build it to the point where it provides me with a good income. I also want to own 4 properties that I can maintain and rent out as I source of income. I would love to travel the world with my partner – my goal is to see atleast one foreign city every year. Lastly, I would like to obtain optimal health and project my health habits to my famoly so that they may adopt healthier lifestyle habits.

Terry

I really didn’t dream of anything specific as a kid. I just remember wishing my family had more money. I used to go through the mail catalogs when then first arrived and excitedly circle everything that I wanted to buy. I didn’t limit myself, because in my mind I had unlimited finds. No need to tell myself we couldn’t afford the items I wanted.

Today? I realized that I’m doing the opposite of the above. I’m limiting myself by saying ” I can’t afford that”. It’s so bad that my child is saying it, right after she expresses a desire to own an item. I can’t have her grow up with a scarcity mentality. I’m affecting her ability to dream, and that has to stop.

I have clients that I hate working with, but I do so because I need that check. It’s killing me, and affecting my child. I dream of owning a successful business where I have the power to fire clients who don’t respect me or my work. I can decide which project to take, based on how I feel about working with that client and if we are a good fit. If the relationship isn’t working, I can be free to let them go, without worrying about my bank account balance.

I am literally crying as I write this, Ramit

I didn’t realize how much I hurt until I read your email. I want to be free of this client today. I want to have wonderful clients who listen to me and whom I enjoy working with on projects.

My dream is to have an overflow of wonderful clients who love my work and they tell others about my business. I have more income that I could even dream of having, and my child can stop saying “but we can’t afford it”.

Finally, I want to be financially free to develop my creative pursuits of writing my books and being an artist. Those are two things (besides my work) that will bring more happiness to my life.

Emily

i dream of owning my own business… i just can’t seem to pinpoint exactly what that looks like yet, but i think that collaborating on a health and wellness center/retreat space would be an amazing experience inspired by mindfulness, creativity, and the well-being of all involved. the ultimate goal would be to meet my own dream of financial freedom for myself and my family and driving my own passion of mindfulness, creativity and well being as a way of life to promote and live this dream.

Alixandrea

Esse

My dream when I was a kid was to be on Oprah. Or to be Oprah. And the winner of an Academy Award for Best Actress. My dream now is to be the world’s greatest philanthropist – the philanthropist who gets it right and helps the most people – while being a mother to two beautiful kids, happily married, rich as hell, and traveling the world boasting 6-pack abs. And, oh, I’ll also be on Oprah’s OWN, on Super Soul Sunday or something.

Amanda

As a kid, I wanted a Game Boy. And those really close friendships they show in movies.

My dream today is to not work but to dabble in a bunch of different areas–podcasting, consulting, writing, learning a musical instrument, taking classes etc. I like achievable projects. I want to do these things collaborating with people that I really like. I don’t want to run my own business.

In a way, I am reaching this dream as practically as possible, as I am able to pick the projects I want to work on in my job, though they aren’t quite as diverse as listed above, but much better than I could do in other companies.

Reka

My childhood dreaming started with wanting to become an architect. A family-pleaser. Later my biggest dream was to study abroad, learn to speak in English as a native, then return to my home town and have a happy life there.
I live abroad and study abroad as an adult, i reached a high command of English and have zero thoughts of returning home, the world is way too interesting! Now I dream of a successful coaching business,
– where i get to support people and witness their success when they are reaching their goals,
– which lets me live comfortably by the sea/ocean and enables my health to fully recover,
– and which gives me the opportunity to engage in pro-bono work to make coaching more available to people with less resources.
When I reach it, I know I will think of a new, bigger dream. “If you can dream it, you can do it!” (Walt Disney)

When I was a kid, I want to own a house in every country (196 or 195 if not counting Taiwan). Its a strange wish when you are a kid, but since we didn’t have a lot growing up, if we went on a vacation it was mostly to a family members place or a cheap hotel. Since they most of the places weren’t large either I or my dad would end up sleeping on the floor so the younger members of the family would get the bed.

My dream is still the same which is to own a place in every country. Minus, Japan and Canada as those are already ticked off the list.

Ramit,
I appreciate what you’re doing. I’m learning from a lot of sources lately, from Pema Chodron and past Buddhist teachers, through Tal Ben Shahar (positive psychology) and Daniel Goleman (emotional intelligence) to business management articles, because, surprise! they deal with coping with your own and others’ glitches in thinking/feeling/acting . While your language is a bit rough for me at times, your message always seems to hit the nail and drive it home. How helpful to hear a voice cutting through the nonsense, whether it’s inside my head, all around me, or both! Your sense resonates, and a different way of thinking strengthens. Mahalo, Lynn

brownin329

I don’t think that’s possible now unless there is a hologram involved.

I’m not worried. I was a bit depressed today. I hate my job and want to leave. I came home and revisited an old idea for a website that could make a lot of money but I can’t find the business model for it. It boosted my spirits. Now, if I had a how-to on how to build a business around a hook, it would be perfect. I need step-by-step because I’m not the kind of Autistic person that’s good with details.

Anything to get out of the 4th portal of hell that I call my job and be able to pay for a house in the boondocks instead of rent. That’s my only goal right now.

brownin329

I don’t think that’s possible now unless there is a hologram involved.

I’m not worried. I was a bit depressed today. I hate my job and want to leave. I came home and revisited an old idea for a website that could make a lot of money but I can’t find the business model for it. It boosted my spirits. Now, if I had a how-to on how to build a business around a hook, it would be perfect. I need step-by-step because I’m not the kind of Autistic person that’s good with details.

Anything to get out of the 4th portal of hell that I call my job and be able to pay for a house in the boondocks instead of rent. That’s my only goal right now.

Thanks for this, Ramit. It’s interesting that to dream big you have to dream often, and grow your capacity to dream. A year ago, five years ago, my answer would have been a completely different animal to what it is today. But I’ve grown, and my gifts and abilities have expanded along with my dreams for how I want to serve and provide insane value with those gifts and abilities. So here it is:

My dream is to be on a first-name basis with some of the biggest change makers of our time.

You rock, Ramit. I have mission statements, and have written extensively about “my why” but thanks for helping me crystallize my big dream. It’s going on my wall to remind me of the long-term vision.

Chris

Background:
My both parents are teachers. So while I was not one of those kids from pathological families when father drinks and mother does not really know where their children are. No. My Mum cared about me and my brother a lot. My father… well, he was not an easy person to live with; I remember all those times when we got a beating for spilling sugar on the floor or for not washing/cleaning our shoes in the evening. In the end psychiatrists said he has a paranoid schizophrenia but never wanted to go to a doctor. Parents got divorced.

And it was tough. It was tough for my mother to raise two boys on single salary (my father didn’t have enough money to pay aliments etc. – and in fact we didn’t even wanted this), especially when we just moved into an old flat where my grand mother used to live and we had to refurbish everything to live there. We didn’t have a car… gosh what am I saying, we didn’t have a fridge at the beginning. And I remember when we were passing by a car wash watching cars being cleaned and were dreaming with my Mum about having one in future and where would we go.

The thing I dreamed about at the point was to have what other boys my age had; better clothes, computer, normal dad that shows me everything, a car.

Now when I write this is may sound a bit pathetic… but this was my reality when I was a kid.

2. What are my dreams now?

Now, things have changed. I earn 6-7 times average salary for the country I live in. I am not wealthy (far from that), but we can afford stuff like holidays (yesterday we booked Turkey, Croatia and Greece for this year), cars, we even have a flat we rent and are now looking at buying a house. My two sons can have any possible toy they dream of. And I am totally opposite to what my father was.

What are my dreams now? Freedom. The money I make is from working for someone else. I dream of having own business. Have even started slowly doing something in that direction. But it is going slowly, as I only have time for this at night when boys are asleep and I can barely see from beeing tired.

My dream now is to get wealthy, so that I can free my time/my life from working for someone else, stop worrying about thriving and start making a little difference in this world. I have a good brain and generous heart. My dream always was to help people, especially children. What you Ramit do with Pencils of Promise is EXACTLY what feels like “being me”.
I deeply believe I will achieve a lifestyle that allows me to fulfil that dream in next max 10 years. And then… I will dream on about something bigger!

Thanks for this post and for all the work you do. I have never said or written the above to anyone. Not sure why I do this here. But hey ho! Nothing to be ashamed about, right?

When I was a kid I dreamed of having 1000 or more acres of land and having dirt bike courses, paintball fields, a gun range, and a decent sized campground so people could come have a damn good time.

Now my dream is to have 100+ acres, wooded, with a big ass house, gun range, an outdoor stage for myself and/or other bands to perform on with seating and a bar for those adult beverages, and space for friends/family to park an RV or pitch a tent.

Taylor shenberger

1. I dreamed of having a miniature horse in our back yard, mini barn and all.
2. I dream of being the boss, the big kahuna, el jefe. I want to be considered an expert and sought after by TV producers, journalists, businessmen, etc.

Rachel

When I was a kid, I had a fill in the blanks book, and one of the questions was “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. Simple. I wanted to be “The Queen”. Not “a princess”, “The” Queen. Never mind that there is no monarchy here.

Once my dream was shot down my by older sister, I came up with some other great ambitions. I wanted to be an archeologist, but was warned that by the time I was old enough, everything would have been discovered. Then I wanted to become an astronaut, but I was told I would die in space. I wanted to be an artist, but apparently artists are broke until they are dead.

So I became nothing.

Not nothing, exactly. I am a mom, and a wife. I owned a store for a while. I’ve taught myself how to use some intense power tools, and how to build furniture and a shed from scratch.

My dreams are different now. I no longer have a big ambition to devote my life to something other than what I have already… but there is one thing missing. Freedom!

Although technically, you can’t buy time, you can use money to buy freedom, which is almost the same thing. If we all have the same 75 years, and Joe plugs away at his job for 70 of his, and John invests well and lets his money do the work, so he can retire at 40, he just bought himself 35 years.

My husband and I “joke” that all we really want is to make enough money that we can move to a remote island and sell coconuts out of a wagon. 3 dollars more if you want rum in it. Not because we need the coconut money, but just because.

Money can buy us time together.

And, while writing this just now, I realized that my first dream kind of came true. In my own little kingdom of 4, I am “The Queen”!

James Soigara

Carman bemisdarfer

I had NO dreams when i was a kid. Literally i had nightmares. I started writing poetry at 12 years of age. I have been published 9 times, (so far). I gave up for a while to be a wife and a mother. Now i am divorced. He came into a lot of cash after we divorced and got a good lawyer so he moved our two (now handsome) boys out of state. I fought in court for years, never losing contact with our sons. Like “they” say: “money talks, bullshit walks.” Well, I am bullshit and still walking! So i have been writing again.
Needless to say I have been through the fucking ringer for a while. So I would love to open a non-profit organization for the mentally ill. And would not exclude anybody for that matter. To be able to provide shelter, warm home cooked meals, laundry services, group sessions, games, a place to sleep, and actually a place where they feel that they DO belong any time. This is a goal of mine. Yes if i could open up many of these type places everywhere, it would need to be online: also.
I am not in a relationship and do NOT care to have anyone in my life that way, so I would love to do this on my own.
Thank You For Your Time, Ramit!

Kid dreams:
1) Fly First Class somewhere. Anywhere at all.
2) Write a book and have it published.
(Flight: done a few months ago, and Book: currently at the proofreader.)

Adult dreams:

I’ve got lots of things which are my dreams, and while sometimes they feel big, in reality every day I’m taking steps towards them. So I don’t really consider them “dreams” so much as “goals in progress.” 🙂

– Write MORE than one book (currently in progress)

– Fly First Class if I choose to as a matter of course (rather than a matter of exceptional experience.) Or as I like to say it, I’d rather BUY Coach (the brand) than FLY Coach. 🙂

– Build my dream home. I’m currently planning and saving towards this, already picked out a builder/architect (Fasham Johnson Homes) and have picked out several features. It’s going to have things like a library with a ladder in it, under floor heating, towel warmers, a wind turbine and water recycling features so it’s environmental footprint is reduced. In every bedroom, a window seat with bookshelves, an enormous Butler’s pantry, a centre island in the kitchen and some seriously bad ass cooking tools (hello there Le Crueset and Global knives.) Also it will be furnished by Jimmy Possum (and Australian hand made furniture maker) (hey, you said be specific!). I’m eventually going to sell it, and re-build a smaller version on the Mornington Peninsula AND buy a city-based property so I can live half the year in one, and half the year in the other.

– Purchase investment properties for each of my kids which they can then use as they wish when they grow up (to live in, rent, whatever). (I’ve already started looking around.)

– Pre-pay for the rest of my kids’ education, in full, in advance. So this means 4 more years of high school, plus whatever comes after that for them. I’ve got triplets so this is a one-shot deal.

– Wake up every day with more money in my accounts than I had the day before, and not because I made interest but because someone bought a course, book or product I created. (Already happens a lot of days! I’d like it to be EVERY day though and on a bigger scale than it currently is.)

– Create my own micro loan organisation specific to women in the food industry. Too many women end their careers in food when they have kids… and so often the ‘rich and famous’ of the chef world is dominated by men. I’m calling bullshit on that one. (I already mentor these women. I’d like to add a financial component.)

– Every week spend time perusing KickStarter or GoFundMe (or similar) and pick ones I think are kinda awesome and just give them a bunch of money to get going. I’m also going to read the paper/news/etc on a local level and when I read about things like libraries needing funding, schools needing resources (etc) I’m just going to anonymously make it happen for them. (I do this a teeny tiny bit by sending money where I can. I’d like to do it way more and actually solve the problem.)

…and if I sit here any longer, this already long post will turn into a novel. Truth is, I think ALL of these are possible for me and I’m working at my business to turn them into realities. If dreams STAY just in your dreams, they aren’t much fun. I’d rather those dreams became reality so I can work on figuring out some new dreams. 🙂 (Maybe the window seats in the bedrooms need cup holders?! 😉 )

MG

HELENE

I don’t remember having any dreams as a kid. I’m not sure I allowed myself to. I had goals: to become a doctor or PhD and have some fancy career in something socially acceptable. I had hopes: to be liked. And normal. But dreams?

Secretly I loved animals, being in nature, and creating art. But I dont remember ever dreaming of doing anything about it. Instead I studied engineering and eventually pursued an academic life.

In my 20s I did dream of becoming a photojournalist or a wildlife photographer, and I even spent a year working as a freelance photographer and dog trainer. Then I “came to my senses” and went back to my “career” for a couple of decades. As a more mature adult, I dreamed of having a farm and training animals, while working from home as a writer.

Three years ago I quit it all, sold everything, moved, and went for it. It’s been a tough, terrifying ride, but I now live on a farm, train dogs and horses, and have a fledgling freelance writing business.

Right now my dreams are small: to earn more than the bills each month so I can start saving to buy my farm. To hire someone to clean my house, muck out my barns, and cut, haul and stack my firewood to free up my time to start working on bigger projects. To get out of survival mode and into something more comfortable. To reconnect with my inner child and learn (remember?) how to dream and think big.

Joyce

Marcos

Nice post you convinced me to invest in a expensive course about 3d modeling. Regarding your post I’ll like to point out that it’s really important to be always learning and doing things (whatever cooking new dishes, learning better communication, creating a business, etc.) I can’t say how many courses taught me things that help me in areas that are not even remote to the contents of the course.

Speaking about the post questions, as a child I wanted to be either a painter or an inventor.
A painter because I loved Picasso, artistically I was incredibly shocked about the blue period artistically and personally I liked the kind of person he was. I remember when I heard he went to parties and he did sculptures for the people at the party and I then I said I want to be that kind of person, but since art careers where kind of banned (because as an artist I’ll die from starvation) from my house I forgot about that until I was 18-19 years (I forgot about art, drawing, everything).
As an inventor I wanted to create machines to help people to live better, not a machine like super soft shaver match 3045, but rather something to help people that live in critical conditions like Central Africa, some regions Asia that have a pretty difficult life.
Instead of becoming an inventor I became a System Engineer that let me create new things out of my mind, on a machine of course, and being able to swap from different situations and reality. And about painting when I was in my early twenties I went to NY where I saw the MoMA and the Metropolitan and I realized how much I loved art (I was interested with design at that moment) and after finishing the System Engineer career I joined a painting workshop and started a Fine Arts career which I’m currently doing.
If you ask me about my dreams right now they would be:
* To develop a visual style of my self, be proud of it and being able to put my work in a museum or gallery, working on creating a visual style specially on getting out the images I imagine in my head.
* To find love, looking for it, found someone last year (a friend) but she wasn’t interested in me and it’s being so difficult to detach. If you ask me about my dream partner it surely would be an artist (doesn’t matter the area)/designer/creative who would inspire me to do new things and to be a better person, and someone to whom I do the same. Specifically I would like to spend weekend afternoons painting with her (or doing a common activity, maybe painting while she plays music who knows) or doing something that connect us and doing a trip to a foreign country together (also be constantly doing new things together but that’s not so big as a trip).
* To help people with less resources, I’m thinking in giving a free presencial programming course at a local high-school for people in critical situation, but I’m not sure if would be able to do it.

Mary

All of your posts are so thought-provoking and very well done. I’m very grateful to have found you and your site.

When I was young, my “big” dream was to be able to go out to McDonald’s (or other restaurants) to enjoy an eat-out meal. I was 12 before I ever went out to eat anywhere, and when I would stay for the weekend with some family friends with a daughter my age, they would take us out to McDonald’s after church and I felt like a rich kid! My parents struggled so financially when I was growing up, and I felt bad to want things that I knew they couldn’t afford and would never dream of asking them for anything so as not to hurt their feelings. They were wonderful parents.

Now that I’m a wife and mama, my big dream is to start a freelance writing career. I want to write, blog and do all that freelance kinda stuff. The truth is, I want to make $10,000 per month during a slow month. I want to write children’s books. I want to write for magazines and guest post on cool blogs. And I want this to happen soon…not years and years from now.

I’ve been working at the same government job for 20 years, and I long to have freedom in my schedule, work on projects that are more interesting than pushing paper around and listening to people yell at me, and to make the kind of money that will get me out of debt, get me into my dream home, provide college funds for my son, and finally get off the hamster wheel so I can think and plan instead of being pulled in so many directions. I feel like I’m barely keeping my head above water and feel so overwhelmed most of the time.

So what have I done to move toward my goals? Not much, I’m afraid. After reading some of your blog posts, I can see that I really need to get off my butt and take some massive action. Your very blunt posts about the fact that it’s not happening because of me really hit home and is exactly what I need to understand at this point in my life. All I’m hearing from myself right now are excuses about why it’s not getting done, or that I need more information or training. It’s all crap, I know.

In the meantime, thanks for letting me share! It feels good to write it down.

Tina

Thanks for your awesome words of inspiration that have inspired all these commenters to dream big and dream often and eradicate the thought that dreams are only dreams. It’s been hectic reading your email newsletters and blogposts so far – keen to read more of your magic throughout 2016!

About the dreams that I had, I remember the dream I had when I was around year 9 was that I wanted to be a successful businesswoman who owned a large natural cosmetics brand. The dream back then was not only to have financial freedom, it was also to pursue my love and passion for bad-chemical-free skincare and body-care and allowing those around me to really understand the dangers of overuse of harmful makeup and bath/body products. And those things cost a tonne too!

I’m now in uni and my big dream is still also to be a successful businesswoman who has earned financial freedom and make a positive impact on others, especially in the health industry. This financial freedom will allow me to travel around the world, and treat myself to a little luxury of some natural and wholesome beauty treatments – many thanks for the link to that reddit post.

I’d also love to ask you the same – what are your dreams now and what were they a few years back? 🙂

I love how people want a dream to be an end result….sit on a yacht, beach etc. Yawwwwn…how boring.

When I was younger my dream was to be an artist.

The dream wasn’t to be a famous artist with art in a museum but to do art daily. It was the process that I enjoyed….not the final product.

I still love art and being creative and while I still have a passion for art, I now focus on passion and purpose. I have a dream to leave my current 9 – 5 job and do something that is successful that I enjoy doing daily that gives me purpose.

Alyson

I had a lot of dreams as a kid. I wanted to be a fry cook like Spongebob (because he seemed to love it so much). I wanted to be a fashion designer, a playwright (or a script writer for a tv show or movie), a singer, and actress, and a mother. I wanted to be a fairy and to fly. I wanted a pet dog (which I actually have now). Most of my dreams as a kid were about what of career I wanted.

Writing scripts for tv shows still appeals to me. My dream now is have an enjoyable career as a writer for a cartoon show. (Preferably on Disney or Cartoon Network)
I also would like to travel a lot (I would like to go to all seven continents at least once).